Everything about John Howard totally explained
John Winston Howard (born
26 July,
1939) was the 25th
Prime Minister of Australia from
11 March,
1996 to
3 December,
2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after
Sir Robert Menzies.
Howard was a member of the
Australian House of Representatives from
1974 to
2007, representing the
Division of Bennelong,
New South Wales. He served as
Treasurer in the government of
Malcolm Fraser from 1977–1983. He was Leader of the Liberal Party and
Coalition Opposition from 1985–1989, which included the
1987 federal election against
Bob Hawke. He was re-elected as Leader of the Opposition in 1995.
Howard led the
Liberal-
National Coalition to victory at the
1996 federal election, defeating
Paul Keating's
Labor government and ending a record 13 years of
Coalition opposition. Howard was sworn in as Prime Minister on
11 March 1996. Howard's government was re-elected at the
1998,
2001 and
2004 elections.
As Prime Minister, Howard oversaw the introduction of the Australian
Goods and Services Tax, implemented significant
gun control, and industrial relations changes known as
WorkChoices.
Howard was defeated at the
2007 election by Labor's
Maxine McKew, making him the second Australian Prime Minister, after
Stanley Bruce in 1929, to lose his own seat. His Party also lost government at the same election to the
Australian Labor Party led by
Kevin Rudd.
Early life
John Howard is the fourth son of
Lyall Howard and Mona (
née Kell). His parents were married in 1925. His eldest brother Stanley was born in 1926, followed by Walter in 1929, and Robert (Bob) in 1936.
Howard grew up in the
Sydney suburb of
Earlwood. His mother had been an office worker until her marriage. His father and his paternal grandfather, Walter Howard, were both veterans of the
First AIF in World War I. They also ran two
Dulwich Hill petrol stations where John Howard worked as a boy.
Lyall Howard died in 1955 when John was sixteen, leaving his mother to take care of John (or "Jack" as he was also known).
Howard suffered a hearing impairment in his youth, leaving him with a slight
speech impediment. It also influenced him in subtle ways, limiting his early academic performance; encouraging a reliance on an excellent memory; and in his mind ruling out becoming a
barrister as a likely career.
Howard attended the publicly funded
state schools Earlwood Primary School and
Canterbury Boys' High School.
Howard won a citizenship prize in his final year at Earlwood (presented by local politician
Eric Willis), and subsequently represented his secondary school at debating as well as
cricket and
rugby. In his final year at school he took part in a radio show hosted by
Jack Davey,
Give It a Go broadcast on the commercial radio station,
2GB, and a recording of the show survives. After gaining his Leaving Certificate, he studied law at the
University of Sydney, graduating in
1961,
Entry into politics
Howard joined the
Liberal Party in
1957. He held office in the
New South Wales Liberal Party on the State Executive and served as President of the
Young Liberals (1962–64), the party youth organisation. Howard supported
Australia's involvement in the
Vietnam War, although has since said there were "aspects of it that could have been handled and explained differently".
At the
1963 federal election, Howard acted as campaign manager in his local seat of
Parkes for the successful candidacy of
Tom Hughes who defeated the 20 year Labor incumbent.
In 1967 with the support of party power brokers,
John Carrick and
Eric Willis, he was endorsed as candidate for the marginal suburban state seat of
Drummoyne, held by the
ALP. Howard's mother sold the family home in
Earlwood and rented a house with him at
Five Dock, a suburb within the electorate. At the election in February 1968, in which the incumbent state Liberal government was returned to office, Howard failed to defeat the sitting member, despite campaigning vigorously. Howard and his mother subsequently returned to Earlwood, moving to a house on the same street where he grew up.
Member of Parliament
At the
1974 federal election, Howard successfully contested the Sydney suburban seat of
Bennelong and became a Member of Parliament in the
House of Representatives. When
Malcolm Fraser's government came to power in December
1975, Howard was appointed
Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs, a position in which he served until
1977.
Peter Costello commented, in 2007, that "The Howard treasurership wasn't a success in terms of interest rates and inflation... he hadn't been a great reformer."
Opposition years (1983-1996)
Following the
1983 defeat of the Fraser government and
Fraser's subsequent resignation from parliament, Howard contested the Liberal leadership but was defeated by
Andrew Peacock. Remaining Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, Howard became Deputy Leader of the
Opposition. After electoral defeat by
Hawke and Labor at the
1984 election, Peacock sought, in September 1985, to replace Howard with John Moore as Deputy Leader. The party room re-elected Howard to the position. Peacock resigned and Howard became Opposition Leader unopposed on
3 September.
Howard came to be known as an economic liberal in his own words, an "economic radical" yet an avowed
social conservative. He opposed "
political correctness" and the promotion of
multiculturalism at the expense of a shared
national identity. In July 1986, Howard famously said that "The times will suit me". However, his chances of unseating Hawke at the
1987 election were ruined when the arch-conservative Premier of
Queensland Sir
Joh Bjelke-Petersen launched a populist "
Joh for Canberra" campaign that divided the federal conservative political movement and saw Hawke comfortably re-elected.
On 22 August 1988, from Opposition, Howard named and launched a new immigration and ethnic affairs policy, titled
One Australia. The policy detailed a vision of "one nation and one future", including opposition to multiculturalism and rejection of Aboriginal land rights. Howard's comments that same month about Asian immigration led to controversy and divisions within the
Liberal Party: in the eyes of some in the community that it's too great, it would be in our immediate-term interest and supporting of social cohesion if it were slowed down a little, so the capacity of the community to absorb it was greater".}}
Other members of Howard's
coalition, including Shadow Finance Minister
John Stone and Deputy Opposition Leader
Ian Sinclair also spoke out about Asian immigration, suggesting it must be reduced.
On
25 August 1988, Prime Minister
Bob Hawke responded by introducing a parliamentary
motion stating that no Australian government would use
race or
ethnic origin as a criterion for immigration. Four members of the Liberal Party
crossed the floor of parliament to vote with
Labor: Hon Dr Peter Baume (Senator),
Steele Hall,
Ian Macphee and
Philip Ruddock. Two others,
Ian Wilson and
Michael MacKellar abstained from the vote.
In September 1988, Howard elaborated his opposition to multiculturalism by saying "To me, multiculturalism suggests that we can't make up our minds who we're or what we believe in."}}
Dissent within the Liberal Party over Asian immigration was believed by some political commentators to have weakened Howard's leadership.
Howard was an enthusiastic supporter of Hewson's economic program, with a
Goods and Services Tax (GST) as its centrepiece. After Hewson lost the "unloseable"
1993 election to
Paul Keating, Howard unsuccessfully challenged Hewson for the leadership. In 1994, he was again passed over for the leadership, which went to
Alexander Downer. Downer failed to dent Keating's dominance and, in January
1995, he resigned as leader.
Peter Costello, deputy party leader, didn't challenge for the leadership, over a decade later citing an agreement between the pair that allowed Howard to become leader for a second time unopposed. Howard said no deal had ever been made.
Prime Minister
As Opposition Leader for the second time, Howard adopted a more pragmatic position than he'd done during his first term. He revised his earlier statements against
Medicare and Asian immigration. During the campaign Howard outlined his vision of Australia in 2000 to the
ABC:
In a "small target" strategy, he attacked the "arrogance" and the "elitist" nature of Keating's "big picture" politics—issues like foreign relations with Asia,
Australian republicanism, multiculturalism and reconciliation with
indigenous Australians—which, Howard believed, were irrelevant to ordinary voters. He also promised workers would be no worse off under industrial relations changes.
Winning over many traditional Labor voters, a group termed the "
Howard battlers", Howard won a sweeping victory at the
1996 elections, with a 26-seat swing--the second-largest defeat of an incumbent government since Federation. At the age of 56, he was sworn in as Prime Minister on
11 March 1996, ending a record 13 years of
Coalition opposition.
In the run-up to the election,
Pauline Hanson, the Liberal candidate for
Oxley in Queensland was disendorsed because of comments she made to
The Queensland Times. Howard said:
First term: 1996–1998
Heralded by the prompt announcement that a $10-billion "budget black hole" left by the previous Labor government would necessitate considerable reduction in many areas of government expenditure, prudent economic management became a major emphasis of Howard's government. Training and education programs developed under the Keating government were scrapped, infrastructure investment was scaled down, funding for indigenous bodies was reduced, and a "
work for the dole" system was introduced that required able-bodied
social security recipients to seek work. Thus began a trend of budget surpluses which would be maintained most years (excepting the 2001-2002 financial year where a cash deficit of $1.3 Billion was recorded).
Following the
Port Arthur massacre in April
1996, Howard coordinated action by the
state governments to restrict the private ownership of
semi-automatic rifles,
semi-automatic shotguns and
pump-action shotguns and raised the prospect of a referendum on gun control. May 10 that year he structured a "National Firearms Agreement" covering related matters such as uniform firearms licensing, although this was never fully implemented.
The Howard government didn't have a majority in the
Senate at this time, and instead faced a situation where legislation had to be negotiated with either the
Australian Democrats or with the Independents. The Senate modified much of the Government's more controversial legislation, including the partial privatisation of the government-owned telecommunications company,
Telstra; the modification of
industrial relations laws to promulgate individual contracts; increases in
university fees; large funding cuts in the
1996 and
1997 budgets; a 30% private
health insurance rebate; and the
Wik 10 Point Plan, giving extinguishment of
native title on
pastoral leases.
Howard had come to office promising to improve standards of integrity among ministers and politicians, introducing a strict "Code of Ministerial Conduct" at the start of his term. The strictness of his code was enforced when a succession of seven of his ministers (Jim Short,
Geoff Prosser,
John Sharp,
David Jull,
Brian Gibson,
Bob Woods, and
Peter McGauran) were required to resign following breaches of the code, concerning a variety of "travel rorts" (misuse of the ministerial travel allowance) and conflicts of interest between ministerial responsibilities and share ownership. Prosser reportedly had improper business dealings and another two ministers (
John Moore and
Warwick Parer) were found to have breached the code.
The
1998 election campaign was dominated by two issues. One was reform of the tax system, including the introduction of the
Goods and Services Tax (GST; a broad-based
value-added tax).
At the October 1998 election, the Liberal-National Coalition, suffered a large swing largely driven by an opposition campaign against the Goods and Services Tax. Labor leader
Kim Beazley won 51% of the national
two-party preferred vote, but the Liberals ran an effective marginal electorate
campaign and were returned with a comfortable majority in parliament. During the campaign, Howard changed the Coalition's preferencing policy. The coalition had been criticised for placing One Nation ahead of Labor on its how-to-vote cards at the Queensland election earlier in the year. Critics charged that this meant Howard was tacitly approving One Nation's policies towards Aborigines and immigration, which they viewed as xenophobic. From the federal election onwards, One Nation was placed last on Coalition voting cards.
Second term: 1998–2001
Foreign affairs were significant in Howard's second term when the people of
East Timor voted for independence from
Indonesia in a
United Nations sponsored referendum.
Pro-Indonesia militia, covertly backed by elements of the Indonesian military, began a brutal campaign of repression. Australia led a
peacekeeping/
policing force to protect the inhabitants against pro-Indonesian militias, attracting praise domestically and in several countries, but angering some Indonesians and
Islamists. A side effect of these actions was that
Osama Bin Laden later called Australia a "crusader force", and that the
Bali bombings were retribution for leading the action.
As recommended in the 1997
Bringing Them Home report, John Howard's government also considered the issue of a national apology to
Indigenous Australians, in recognition of the treatment by previous governments following the European settlement of the country. In the face of a growing movement in favour of a national apology, Howard was resolute in his refusal to do this, although all state and territory governments issued their own. Instead, on
26 August 1999 John Howard personally expressed "deep sorrow" while maintaining that "Australians of this generation shouldn't be required to accept guilt and blame for past actions and policies." In February 2008, after Howard failed to win a fifth term, incoming Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd made an apology on behalf of the federal parliament, which received bipartisan support. Howard was the only former Prime Minister who declined to attend.
Howard's second term saw the implementation of the
Goods & Services Tax (GST), replacing a range of taxes on specific goods with a flat rate on almost all goods and services. In accordance with an Intergovernmental Agreement, the Australian Government would administer the GST on behalf of the states and territories, to whom all GST revenue is paid. This was intended to give the states and territories responsibility for their own finances and end annual funding squabbles between them and the federal government. The federal government determines the share of GST revenue received by each using a formula recommended by the
Commonwealth Grants Commission.
Howard was able to pass the GST legislation through the Senate after making a deal with
Australian Democrats' leader Senator
Meg Lees to exclude a number of items from the GST, most notably fresh food such as fruit and vegetables. As a partial offset for the GST, a $7,000 "first home buyers grant" was introduced in
2000.
Enforcement of the
Code of Ministerial Conduct, introduced during the prior term, was less stringent this term and hereafter, with Howard said to take a "rather more relaxed attitude to ... apparent breaches or misdemeanours and ... far fewer sackings".
The Howard government was trailing in the polls in
2001. It lost a by-election in the normally safe electorate of
Ryan in
Queensland and Labor governments were elected in all the states and territories except
South Australia (which fell to Labor in 2002). In response, a number of policy changes were made, including the abandonment of petrol
excise indexation and increased government benefits to self-funded retirees.
The 2001 election campaign
In
August 2001, the government refused permission for the
Norwegian freighter
MV Tampa, carrying a group of
asylum seekers picked up in
international waters, to enter Australian waters. When the Tampa entered Australian waters, Howard ordered the ship be boarded by
Australian special forces. This brought censure from the
government of Norway for Australia's failure to meet obligations to distressed mariners under international law at the
United Nations.
The government introduced "border protection" legislation.
Kim Beazley and the Labor opposition offered half-hearted support to the legislation while opposing it on specific points. The issue, along with the shock of the recent
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, saw the Howard government portray itself as "tough" on border protection and
national security. The Howard government subsequently received a big lift in the polls and many commentators cite the
MV Tampa as the decisive issue in the 2001 election.
For the 2001 election campaign, Howard used the slogan:
» "We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come."
Earlier that month, comments by Immigration Minister
Philip Ruddock about a recent maritime incident involving a boatload of asylum seekers had sparked the
Children Overboard Affair. Ruddock said that children had been thrown into the sea. Howard and Defence Minister
Peter Reith repeated and defended the claim. After the election, naval and intelligence sources refuted the claim while two senate inquiries found the claim to be untrue and that the government knew this prior to the election.
At the
November 2001 elections, the Coalition was re-elected with a larger majority than in 1998 and achieved the biggest swing to an incumbent government since
1966.
Third term: 2001–2004
In the two years after the
2001 election the Howard government continued its tough line on
national security and "border protection" issues, while seeking to further its agenda of conservative social policies and pro-business economic reforms. Despite its victory in
2001, the government didn't have a Senate majority, and its ability to pass planned legislation was restricted.
Howard faced a difficult issue in the allegations that his choice as
Governor General, Dr.
Peter Hollingworth, in his previous vocation as
Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, hadn't investigated Anglican priests who were accused of
paedophilia in various churches. Hollingworth resigned the governor-generalship amidst controversy that threatened to damage the credibility of his office.
The seat of Bennelong became home to many
Asian immigrants, and in May 2002, Howard retracted his 1988 comments about Asian immigration:
Australian opinion was deeply divided on the war and large public protests against the war occurred. Several senior figures from the Liberal party, including
John Valder, a former president of the Liberal Party, and Howard's former friend and colleague, former Opposition Leader
John Hewson and former Prime Minister
Malcolm Fraser publicly criticised Howard over Iraq. John Valder's criticism was particularly strong, claiming that Howard should be tried and punished as a
war criminal.
On
Anzac Day 2004, Howard made a surprise visit to Australian defence personnel in Iraq. This came amid a bitter debate in Australia over the war following opposition leader
Mark Latham's promise to return Australian troops by
Christmas. Howard portrayed Latham as a threat to the
U.S.-Australia alliance.
On
6 May2004, Howard convened a meeting with a group of energy industry representatives called the Lower Emissions Technology Advisory Group (LETAG). Although it met with the renewable energy sector separately, the Government was later criticised for not inviting them to this meeting. According to leaked minutes from the meeting, Howard would conclude that technology would be the long-term solution to greenhouse issues and his focus should be on ways to accelerate introduction of technology for reducing greenhouse gases, but that he wasn't looking for the establishment of public policy. Concerns about the cost and effectiveness of the current Mandatory
Renewable Energy Targets (MRET) were also raised.
In May 2004, and with the help of the
Australian Democrats, the Howard Government amended Australia's superannuation law to allow
same-sex couples to inherit their partners' private sector superannuation.
Announcing the May 2004 proposal, Howard said:
» "The changes we're announcing today will provide greater certainty for the payment of super death benefits for those involved in interdependency relationships including, of course, members of same sex relationships"
The changes didn't extend to members in Commonwealth superannuation schemes.
On 13 August 2004, the Senate passed the Howard Government's Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill which incorporated the common law definition of marriage—"the union of a man and a woman to exclusion of all others"—into the
Marriage Act and the
Family Law Act. The amendment, was opposed by the
The Greens and
Democrats.
On
29 August 2004, Howard called an election for
9 October. The Labor opposition, after the resignation of
Simon Crean and the election of
Mark Latham as leader in December
2003, had established a large lead in some opinion polls by March
2004, and the government entered the election campaign behind Labor in all published national opinion polls. Howard himself still had a large lead over Latham as preferred Prime Minister in those same polls and most commentators regarded the result as being too close to call.
During the campaign, Howard attacked Latham's economic record as
Mayor of
Liverpool City Council. Howard also attacked Labor's economic history.
In the closing period of the election campaign, Howard promised a large spending program on health, education, small business and family payments with the aim of trumping Labor's policy strengths.
The election result was an increased Coalition majority in the House of Representatives and the first, albeit slim, government majority in the Senate since 1981. On a two party preferred basis, the Coalition achieved 52.74% of the vote to Labor's 47.26%. However, for the second time since becoming Prime Minister, Howard himself had to go to preferences in order to win another term in his own seat. He took 49.9 percent of the first count and was only assured of reelection on the third count. Ultimately, Howard won 53.3 percent of the two-party preferred vote.
Fourth term: 2004–2007
On 21 December 2004, Howard became the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after
Sir Robert Menzies.
The new Senate came into effect on
1 July 2005, giving the Howard government control of both houses for the first time. Not since Fraser had a government been able to pass legislation without approval from other parties. However, due to the slenderness of its Senate majority, internal Coalition discipline and dissent significantly influenced legislative outcomes on certain issues.
The Howard government revisited and secured the passage of previously blocked legislation, including
industrial relations changes, the
abolition of compulsory university student union fees and liberalisation of media ownership laws (by lowering restrictions on media companies owning multiple different media). It also instructed the Governor-General to disallow a legislation, the
ACT Civil Unions Act.
Howard chaired
APEC Australia 2007, culminating in the
APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Sydney during September. The meeting was at times overshadowed by leadership speculation following further poor poll results and public criticism of security arrangements.
The Coalition trailed Labor in opinion polls from mid-2006 onward, but Howard still consistently led Labor leader
Kim Beazley on the question of preferred Prime Minister. In December 2006, after
Kevin Rudd became Labor leader, the two-party preferred deficit widened even further and Rudd swiftly overtook Howard as preferred Prime Minister.
In April 2006, the government announced it had completely paid off the last of $96 billion of Commonwealth net debt inherited when it came to power in 1996. Economists generally welcomed the news, while cautioning that some level of debt wasn't necessarily bad, and that some of the debt had been transferred to the private sector.
Howard often cited the economic management of his government as a point in its favour, but came under heavy criticism toward the end of 2007 in the lead up to the Federal election. It was alleged by opposition leader
Kevin Rudd during their single leadership debate that Howard had no plan to deal with inflationary pressures on the economy, and wouldn't be able to handle future interest rate rises.
Industrial relations
In 2005, Howard announced
significant changes to industrial relations laws. These became the subject of a national publicity campaign by the government and pronounced opposition from community groups, the union movement and state Labor governments. On
15 November 2005,
public rallies were held to protest against the industrial relations changes. An estimated 100,000-175,000 people attended rallies in Melbourne and around 300 other meetings and rallies, held concurrently around the country, were also well attended. These meetings were organised by various unions and community organisations with the help of Labor and the Greens. Due to the Coalition's slim majority in the Senate, the passage of the proposed laws was put in doubt following criticisms from Queensland National Party Senator
Barnaby Joyce, although he later voted in support of the legislation. The industrial relations laws were passed without substantial change.
US relations
John Howard was a staunch ally of
United States president
George W. Bush. In May, 2003, Howard made an overnight stay at Bush's
Prairie Chapel Ranch in
Texas, during which time Bush described him as "a man of steel." The two shared a common ideology on many issues, most visibly in their approach to the "War on Terror".
Anti-terrorism measures
In mid 2005, John Howard and his cabinet began discussions of new anti-terror legislation which includes modification to the
Crimes Act 1914. In particular, sections relating to
sedition are to be modified. On
14 October 2005,
Jon Stanhope (Chief Minister of the ACT) took the controversial step of publishing the confidential draft of the Federal Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005 on his website. This action was both praised and criticised. Citing concerns about civil rights raised by the
Australian National University as well as concerns over the speed of the legislation's passage through parliament, he later refused to sign off on a revised version of the legislation, becoming the only State and Territorial leader not to sign. The House of Representatives passed the anti-terrorism legislation which was debated in the Senate before its final implementation in December 2005.
On
2 November 2005 Howard held a press conference to announce that he'd received information from police and the
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) that indicated an imminent terrorist attack in Australia. Within a week, on
8 November, anti-terrorist raids were held across
Melbourne and
Sydney, with 17 suspected terrorists arrested, including
Abdul Nacer Benbrika. These raids, according to Howard, demonstrated the need for his Anti-Terrorism Bill. Critics have also said that the press conference was held on the same day as the
changes to industrial relations laws were introduced to Parliament.
Since
Mohamed Haneef spent 12 days in jail without charges (he was suspected to have supported the perpetrators of the foiled terror attacks in London and Glasgow in July 2007), the anti-terrorism bill and its impact for the
separation of powers in a democracy became more publicly discussed. When a judge found insufficient evidence for the charges against Haneef, Minister of Immigration
Kevin Andrews withdrew his working visa. While the Howard government unequivocally backed Kevin Andrew's decision, members of the judicial community in Australia raised their concern about the interference of the government in judicial proceedings.
Mandatory detention policy
Throughout the first half of 2005, the Howard government faced pressure regarding the controversial
mandatory detention program, introduced in 1992 by the
Keating ALP government.
It was revealed in February that a mentally ill
German citizen and Australian resident,
Cornelia Rau, had been held in detention for nine months. The government then established the closed non-judicial
Palmer Inquiry promising that the findings would be made public. In May, it was revealed that another Australian, subsequently identified as
Vivian Solon, had been deported from Australia and that the department responsible was unable to locate her. By late May, it was revealed that an additional 200 cases of possible wrongful detention had been referred to the Palmer Inquiry. Also at this time Howard faced backbench revolt from small numbers of his own party demanding that reforms be made. On
9 June Australia's longest serving detainee,
Peter Qasim, was moved to a psychiatric hospital.
In June, 2005, several backbenchers including
Petro Georgiou challenged the Howard government's holding of
asylum-seeker children in immigration detention centres.
Over 2000 asylum-seeker children were held in detention centres during previous years. The longest period a child was detained was 5 years.
Under the agreement between Howard and the MPs, legislation was introduced to "soften" the detention system enacted in 1992. Detained families with children were moved out of detention centres and placed in "community detention", and people detained over two years received an
ombudsman review.
Questioned as to why the government hadn't acted sooner, Howard was quoted as saying: "We have to confess that was one of the many failings of this Government." Howard announced on
10 December 2006 the formation of a
Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading. On
3 February 2007, the Australian government announced that it couldn't by itself have a significant effect on
mitigation of global warming, though it would continue to make efforts to cut greenhouse gases; it would be necessary for Australia to find means of
adaptation. On
4 June 2007, Howard announced a new
Carbon Trading Scheme to be in place in Australia by
2012. Only four months earlier, Howard rejected such a scheme by the states, claiming "knee-jerk reactions that are going to destroy the jobs of coalminers".
The Howard government didn't sign the
Kyoto Protocol, arguing that it didn't set binding emission reduction targets for
developing countries such as
China and
India.
Northern Territory intervention
In August 2007, the Howard government announced the
Northern Territory National Emergency Response. This package of
welfare reform,
law enforcement and other measures was advanced as a plan for addressing child abuse in Aboriginal
Northern Territory communities that had been highlighted by the "
Little Children are Sacred" report in mid-June.
The plan drew criticism from the report's authors and others for not incorporating any of the report's numerous recommendations. Other critics expressed skepticism about the plan's true intention, saying it was instead an attempt to remove
land rights from
Aboriginal communities. Howard had been a long-time opponent of indigenous
Native Title in Australia. Key components of the intervention included seizure by the Federal Government of local community land leases for a five year period and removal of the permit system that had allowed aboriginal communities to control access to their land.
Some aboriginal activists such as
Noel Pearson provided qualified support for the intervention, as it provided the first sign of the Howard government taking any significant interest in aboriginal affairs. Commentators noted the approaching November federal election, suggesting that the intervention was an attempt at "wedge politics" and an appeal to middle class non-Aboriginal voters concerned with child abuse and racial issues. Most of the government discussion regarding the intervention involved appeals to emotion, without attempting to address the specific criticisms put forward by opponents of the plan.
The 2007 election campaign
On 14 October, Howard announced a 24 November election, saying the country "does not need new leadership, it doesn't need old leadership. It needs the right leadership". By the time election writs were issued, the Coalition was running well behind Labor in all polls. Most pundits predicted a large Labor victory.
ABC election analyst
Antony Green noted the Coalition's numbers were similar to what Labor had polled before losing power in 1996.
Opposition leader
Kevin Rudd called for a minimum of three debates between himself and John Howard over the campaign period. Howard, who had been rated poorly by studio audiences at past leadership debates, pressed for a single debate "whether [Rudd] was there or not". On 21 October, Howard and Rudd took part in a live nationally
televised leaders'
debate. Although Howard had pressed for the
Nine Network to abandon its use of "the worm" — an on-screen graphic depicting studio audience sentiment — it still featured in Nine's debate coverage. Commentators widely reported Rudd as the victor in the debate.
In the 24 November election, Howard and his Coalition government were soundly defeated, losing 23 seats — the fourth-worst defeat of an incumbent government since
Federation. Late that night, Howard conceded that Labor had won government and the likelihood that he'd lost Bennelong to former journalist
Maxine McKew. Howard had been 206 votes ahead of McKew on the first count, and finished 2.8 percentage points behind McKew on the estimated two-party vote. While the ABC and other media outlets projected on election night that Howard had been unseated, McKew declined to claim victory at first, saying that the seat was on "a knife edge." On 1 December, McKew claimed victory. Counting was incomplete at the time, with several postal and absentee ballots still outstanding. However, it was expected that Howard wouldn't win enough of them to retain hi seat.
On 12 December, the Electoral Commission formally declared McKew the winner by 44,685 votes (51.4 percent) to Howard's 42,251 (48.6 percent). Howard formally conceded defeat later that day. The final tally showed that Howard lost on the 14th count due to a large flow of
Green preferences to McKew. He had been ahead by thin margins for most of the night, never leading by more than 0.2 percentage points. Four other members of Howard's Cabinet were defeated.
Howard confided in a former colleague that losing Bennelong was a "silver lining in the thunder cloud of defeat" as it spared him the ignominy of opposition. He remained in office as caretaker Prime Minister until the formal swearing in of Rudd's government on 3 December. Howard is the second Australian Prime Minister, after
Stanley Bruce, to lose his seat in an election.
Federal Liberal Party director
Brian Loughnane said "it was the failure of
Kim Beazley's leadership that had masked voter concerns about Howard". Media analysis of The Australian Election Study, a postal survey of 1873 voters during the 2007 poll, found that although respondents respected Howard and thought he'd won the 6-week election campaign, Howard was considered "at odds with public opinion on cut-through issues", his opponent had achieved the highest "likeability" rating in the survey's 20-year history, and a majority had decided their voting intention prior to the election campaign.
Leadership and retirement doubts
Despite being the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Australian history, John Howard's time in office was marked by almost continuous speculation about his leadership. In the lead up to the 2001 election, Howard didn't commit to serving a full term if he won the election. Instead, he said he'd consider the question of retirement when he turned 64, which would be in July 2003. When July 2003 came, he announced that the party was strongly in favour of him continuing, so he stayed on. It was later revealed that Howard's stated intention to consider retirement at 64 had been partly strategic in order to placate Peter Costello's leadership ambitions.
In the lead up to the 2004 election, Howard again didn't commit to serving a full term. In 2006, there was mounting speculation that he'd retire that year.
In July 2006, it was alleged that a deal had been struck with
Peter Costello in 1994 with
Ian McLachlan present, that if the Liberal party were to win the next election, Howard would serve one and a half terms of office and then allow Costello to take over. Howard denied that this constituted a deal, yet Costello and McLachlan insisted it did; and there were calls for Costello to either challenge or quit.
The impasse was resolved at the end of July when Howard, again citing strong party room support for him as leader, stated that he'd remain to contest the next election, and that he and Costello would remain in their current roles. Costello declared that he wouldn't be seeking the top position in the Liberal Party while Howard was standing as its leader, saying on
The 7.30 Report he'd be handing down the 2007 Budget. On
12 September 2007 John Howard told 7.30 Report host Kerry O'Brien that if re-elected he'd "form the view, well into my term, that it makes sense for me to retire and in those circumstances I'd expect although it would be a matter for the party to determine that Peter would take over."
Early in September 2007, coinciding with the APEC Conference in Sydney, speculation broke out about Cabinet support for Howard's leadership. Following a series of negative polls, senior ministers such as
Alexander Downer,
Nick Minchin and
Malcolm Turnbull were reported to have doubts about his capacity to win the election.
Peter Costello, regarded by many as the leader in waiting, indicated that he'd only take over the leadership if Howard voluntarily stood down. However, Howard stated that he wouldn't step aside and warned he'd fight any challenger, and the party restated their support for him as leader. On
12 September 2007, during an ABC television interview, John Howard announced that he'd step down from the Prime Ministership "well into the next term" if he's re-elected.
After politics
In January 2008, John Howard signed with a prominent speaking agency called the
Washington Speakers Bureau, joining
Tony Blair,
Colin Powell,
Madeleine Albright, and others. He will be available for two speeches,
Leadership in the New Century and
The Global Economic Future. In February 2008, John Howard gave a speech to the Nigerian parliament on how to achieve economic prosperity.
Honours
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Howard'.
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