, (born 26 July 1939) was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia
, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies
.
Howard was a member of the House of Representatives
from 1974
to 2007, representing the Division of Bennelong
, New South Wales
. He served as Treasurer
in the Fraser
government
of from 1977 to 1983. He was Leader of the Liberal Party and Coalition
Opposition from 1985 to 1989, which included the 1987 federal election against Bob Hawke
.
The most important civil liberty... is to stay alive and to be free from violence and death...
I think when people talk about civil liberties, they sometimes forget that action taken to protect the citizen against physical violence and physical attack is a blow in favour and not a blow against civil liberties.
Truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in national political life.
We are not a federation of tribes. We are one great tribe; one Australia.
Journalist: Do you see yourself as having another chance at the leadership at some future time?John Howard: Oh, that'd be Lazarus|Lazarus with a triple bypass.
I believed then, and I believe now, that if this country is to live up to its full potential and its highest ideals we must turn this around.
I've never believed in lower wages. Never. Never believed in lower wages, I've never believed in lower wages as an economic instrument.
The 'black armband' view of our history reflects a belief that most Australian history since 1788 has been little more than a disgraceful story of imperialism, exploitation, racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. I take a very different view. I believe that the balance sheet of our history is one of heroic achievement and that we have achieved much more as a nation of which we can be proud of than which we should be ashamed.
We decide who comes into this country, and the circumstances in which they come.