1. Janette Howard is the wife of John Howard, who was the Prime Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007 and the second-longest-serving Australian Prime Minister.
12 Facts About Janette Howard
1. 2.
Alison Janette Parker was born in the suburb of Kingsford, Sydney, in 1944.
3.
Janette Howard's father was an engineer with the New South Wales Government Railways.
4.
Janette Howard was educated at Sydney Girls High School and trained as a teacher, graduating from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Arts.
5.
Janette Howard joined the Liberal Party and met John Howard at a Liberal Party function.
6.
Janette Howard adopted a relatively low profile during her husband's tenure as prime minister; however, in 1999, a journalist alleged that she had intervened with the Prime Minister concerning an appointment to the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
7.
In 1996, Janette Howard was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent surgery; the type of cancer was not revealed to the public until 2006.
8.
John Janette Howard said at the time that he would leave politics immediately if it seemed necessary in the interests of his wife's health.
9.
Since then, Janette Howard has been active in advocating early screening for breast cancer for Australian women.
10.
Janette Howard is a patron of the National Portrait Gallery.
11.
Janette Howard was always seen at the Prime Minister's side during election campaigns.
12.
Janette Howard devoted time to "nursing" John Howard's electorate of Bennelong, which, although a Liberal seat since its creation in 1949, gradually became less Liberal and culminated in the defeat of John Howard at the 2007 election by the Labor Party's Maxine McKew.