61 Facts About Howard Government

The Howard government commenced following victory over the Keating government at the 1996 federal election.

John Howard Government became Leader of the Opposition on 30 January 1995, replacing Alexander Downer, who resigned in his favour.

Howard Government replaced Andrew Peacock as leader of the Opposition in 1985 and challenged the Hawke government at the 1987 election, which saw Labor returned.

Howard Government called for industrial relations reform to increase flexibility and improve productivity and offered tax relief for families.

Howard Government proposed increased spending on environmental challenges, to be in part funded by the partial sale of Telstra.

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Howard Government promised to restore the prime minister's attendance at question time in parliament .

Howard Government announced his proposed ministry team on 8 March 1996, with the Governor-General swearing them into office on 11 March.

John Howard Government led a push to significantly increase restrictions on gun ownership, which divided the cabinet and inflamed some rural voters who were an important part of the Coalition's core constituency.

Howard Government stated that the previous Keating government had left them with an unexpected $7.

Howard Government did not have a majority in the Senate, and thus had to negotiate legislation through the Senate with either the Australian Democrats or the independents.

On 26 May 1997, John Howard tabled the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Bringing Them Home Report, a report commissioned by the Keating government in relation to the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

In 1981 Treasurer John Howard Government proposed an indirect consumption tax to Cabinet, a mid-1980s proposal advocated by then treasurer Paul Keating was stopped within the Labor Party, and the Coalition's loss of the "unlosable" 1993 Federal Election was widely attributed to their GST proposal.

In reference to his long-held support for a GST, John Howard said in the lead up to the 1996 election that a GST would "never ever" be Coalition policy, which was repeated in August 1996 once in government.

Howard Government summarised this policy emphasis as "Asia first, not Asia only".

Howard Government selected Indonesia and Japan for his first foreign visits and went to China in early 1997 at the invitation of President Jiang Zemin.

On 3 October 1998, the Howard government won a second term with its March 1996 majority of 45 seats reduced to 12.

On election night, John Howard claimed the win as a mandate for the GST, and in surprising and apparently impromptu remarks, he committed the government to reconciliation with Australia's indigenous peoples.

Simultaneously with the federal election, a referendum on statehood was held in the Northern Territory, with the Howard government promising to grant statehood if it passed.

However, in the face of a growing movement in favour of a formal national apology, Howard Government remained strongly against it, saying he didn't believe that the current generation should accept responsibility for the actions of previous generations.

Howard Government's reported instruction to his Cabinet to not join the Reconciliation Walk highlighted tensions between him and Treasurer Costello, who was amongst those Cabinet Ministers who had wanted to walk.

The Opposition opposed the bill defeating it in the Senate, and John Howard Government accused Labor leader Kim Beazley of standing for nothing and said "He has no ticker".

In 2003, economist Ross Gittins, a columnist at Fairfax Media, said former Prime Minister John Howard Government had been "a tricky chap " on immigration, by appearing "tough" on illegal immigration to win support from the working class, while simultaneously winning support from employers with high legal immigration.

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser was dispatched as a special envoy by the Australian Howard Government to seek release of CARE Australia workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace imprisoned in Yugoslavia on charges of espionage.

In September 2001, John Howard went to Washington to meet the new president of the United States, George W Bush and to commemorate the anniversary of the ANZUS alliance.

On 5 October 2001, John Howard Government announced a federal election to be held on 10 November.

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Howard Government launched the Coalition's 2001 federal election campaign with a policy speech at the Sydney Recital Hall, on 28 October.

Howard Government reiterated Coalition support for funding of independent schools, in the context of Labor Party proposals to channel funds away from independent schooling.

Howard Government proposed a First Child Tax Refund, to support families with new-borns and increased funding for aged care and a Tough on Drugs programme to improve "education and law enforcement and rehabilitation" .

In June 2001, John Howard Government selected Dr Peter Hollingworth as his recommendation for the post of Governor General.

In June, Howard Government's chosen successor Major General Michael Jeffery became Governor-General and was to remain in the post until after Howard Government's 2007 election loss.

The initial ADF commitment in Afghanistan concluded in November 2002 when the Special Air Service Task Group was withdrawn, however the Howard government sent a new contingent to Afghanistan in 2005.

The Howard government did not issue a similar warning, though following the attack it issued a travel advisory warning against any travel to Indonesia.

In November 2002, the Howard government supported UN Resolution 1441, which outlined breaches by Saddam Hussein's Iraq of a succession of United Nations resolutions – among these that Iraq had refused to grant unrestricted access to United Nations Weapons inspectors in the decade since the Gulf War, and a series of other breaches relating to the peace treaty signed at the end the Gulf War.

At the outset of the war, Howard Government said that, "These reasons for our direct and urgent commitment to the cause of disarming Iraq must be seen against the background of the different world in which we now all live".

Howard Government said that Iraq should be disarmed because of her "appalling track record"; because it would discourage other rogue states from pursuing WMD; because it would lessen the risk of WMD falling into the hands of terrorist groups; and because Australia should support the American alliance because "no nation is more important to our long-term security than that of the United States".

Additionally, Howard Government outlined the extensive human rights abuses of the Iraqi regime had perpetrated against its own people, as well as the humanitarian cost of the ongoing UN sanctions regime against Iraq as supporting the case for war against Saddam.

Howard Government successfully portrayed Latham as a threat to the US-Australia alliance, which contributed to a fall in Latham's popularity.

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.

Howard Government continued to lobby within the Commonwealth for further action, but faced heated opposition from Mbeki and other leaders.

Howard Government wrote in his 2010 biography that Zimbabwe had been the "just about the most demoralising foreign affairs issue" he ever faced as prime minister.

Howard Government invited Hu to become the first Chinese leader to address the Australian Parliament.

In 2005, Howard Government announced significant changes to industrial relations laws.

On 2 November 2005, Howard Government held a press conference to announce that he had received information from police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation that indicated an imminent terrorist attack in Australia.

Howard Government later stated that these raids demonstrated the need for his Anti-Terrorism Bill.

Also at this time Howard Government faced backbench revolt from small numbers of his own party demanding that reforms be made.

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In June 2005, several backbenchers including Petro Georgiou challenged the Howard government's holding of asylum-seeker children in immigration detention centres.

In 2003, economist Ross Gittins, a columnist at Fairfax Media, said former Prime Minister John Howard Government had been "a tricky chap " on immigration, by appearing "tough" on illegal immigration to win support from the working class, while simultaneously winning support from employers with high legal immigration.

Howard Government argued that without the involvement of the United States and without binding emission reduction targets for the other large emitters in the developing world, in particular China and India, the Treaty would not be viable and could harm Australia's coal industry without effectively reducing global emissions.

On 6 June 2006, Howard Government announced a task force to conduct the "Uranium Mining, Processing, and Nuclear Energy Review", the terms of reference of which include "the extent to which nuclear energy will make a contribution to the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions".

Howard Government announced on 10 December 2006 the formation of a Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading.

On 4 June 2007, Howard Government reversed the decision and announced a new Carbon Trading Scheme to be in place in Australia by 2012.

The family benefits introduced by the Howard government led to middle-income households becoming the largest single group of social welfare recipients.

In 2005, the Howard government abolished the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, the only federal body charged with formally representing indigenous Australians.

In 2005, with the support of Indonesia, the Howard government secured a seat for Australia at the East Asian Summit.

In 2005, Howard reflected on his government's cultural and foreign policy outlook in oft repeated terms:.

My Howard Government has rebalanced Australia's foreign policy to better reflect the unique intersection of history, geography, culture and economic opportunity that our country represents.

The Howard government moved to overturn Australia's policy of not selling the material to India on the basis of it being a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Howard Government wanted to expand Australia-India relations, and supported moves for India to be included in a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue involving India, Australia, Japan and the United States.

Howard Government branded Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe a "grubby dictator" and said that he feared that an Australian tour would be used for propaganda purposes by the repressive Mugabe regime.

Discussion of increased Japanese-Australian-USA defence ties was discussed when the Howard government played host to the 2007 APEC meeting, culminating in a Leaders Week in Sydney.

Howard Government lost his seat, as did three of his ministers and 17 other Coalition MPs, although the Liberals gained two marginal Labor seats in Western Australia.