by John Howard
Australian Women’s Weekly
Election night, March 1996 — victory at last!
Newspix/News Ltd/Michael Jones
Watching Lleyton Hewitt’s US Open victory in the lounge room of the Australian ambassador’s residence, Washington, 9 September 2001.
Newspix/News Ltd/John Feder
With Richard, Tim and Janette, paying respects at Ground Zero, New York, January 2002. The raw emotion was still strong.
AFP photo
After my victory speech in Sydney on election night 2004. It was the Coalition’s fourth straight win. Unexpectedly, we won control of the Senate.
Auspic
A proud father with his daughter: Melanie at her graduation from Sydney University, May 1996. All of my children took law degrees.
Mike Bowers
About to give away Melanie on her wedding day, September 2003.
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With George and Laura Bush on the verandah of the White House before an official dinner, May 2006.
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Intervarsity fencer Janette brandishes Cromwell’s sword in the ‘long room’ at Chequers. Cherie Blair and I admire her thrust but keep our distance.
The British Government
With Melanie and my grandson, Angus, after voting on election day 2007.
Lisa Maree Williams/GettyImages
Conceding defeat on election night 2007, with Richard, Janette, Tim and his future wife, Sarah. My Government left a stronger, prouder and more prosperous Australia.
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Cutting my teeth with local street-corner campaigning in Earlwood during the early 1960s. I was working for the local MLA, Eric Willis.
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With Phillip Lynch (left) and John Carrick, my mentor, at the cabinet swearing-in of late 1977. Doug Anthony, Tony Street and Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen are in the background.
National Archives of Australia: A6135, K22/12/77/33
Malcolm Fraser and I prepare to meet state leaders at a Premiers’ Conference/ Loan Council meeting, May 1981.
Newspix/News Ltd
Andrew Peacock and I shake hands early in 1983. Fault lay on both sides in our leadership rivalry. We are now quite friendly.
Newspix/News Ltd
In Canberra, 1988, with Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s greatest prime minister since Churchill.
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A confident opposition front bench of Fischer, Costello, Downer and Reith heckle Paul Keating in February 1995, shortly after my return to the leadership.
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The first cabinet of the Howard era, with Governor-General Sir William Deane, who had sworn us in. Costello, Downer and I would retain our original positions through till 2007.
Mike Bowers
Congratulating Peter Costello on the foundation budget, August 1996. A great budget, and he was Australia’s best ever Treasurer.
Mike Bowers
With (on my left) Tony Nutt and Tony O’Leary, both long-serving and loyal advisors.
Newspix/News Ltd/John Feder
Receiving wise political counsel from my long-time advisor and friend, Grahame Morris.
J.W. Howard private library
At the United Nations with Arthur Sinodinos, my outstanding chief of staff. Also pictured are Ashton Calvert (DFAT chief), my redoubtable PM&C head, Max Moore-Wilton, and John Dauth (Australia’s UN envoy).
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In Townsville in 2003 with Major General Peter Cosgrove, who led the Timor intervention and later became Chief of the Defence Force during the Iraqi operation.
AAP Image/Jason Weeding
I always enjoyed meeting the men and women of the ADF. Their welfare will always be of concern to me.
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With Australian troops at Baghdad Airport, March 2007. Later I met US General David Petraeus, who led the successful surge.
Andrew Taylor/Fairfaxphotos
Outside the ruins of the Sari Club, Bali, October 2002. General Da’i Bachtiar is on my right. My security head, Gary Hanna, is on my left.
Dean Lewins/Reuters/Picturemedia
Inspecting the devastation of the tsunami in Aceh Province with Brigadier Chalmers, head of the Medical Taskforce, January 2005.
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Campaigning in the bush with John Anderson, Deputy PM, close colleague and friend. We trusted each other completely.
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Holding Deborah Rose Dumoo at Wadeye in the Northern Territory, 2005. ‘No school, no pool’ was a policy that worked a treat.
Newspix/News Ltd/Lyndon Mechielsen
Carried aloft by Australia’s magnificent 2000 Olympic Games team. They appreciated the constant support Janette and I gave.
Channel 7
Newspix/News Ltd
With Mark Taylor and others of the victorious 1997 Ashes team. Mark dubbed me a ‘cricket tragic’. We remain good friends.
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Political life made playing competition cricket impossible, but there was the occasional breakout.
Newspix/News Ltd/Bruce Howard
Regular morning walks sometimes included others — here it was Wallaby captain George Gregan in Canberra.
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A light-hearted moment with Her Majesty the Queen (centre), Don McKinnon, Commonwealth Secretary-General (left), and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo (right) at CHOGM, Abuja, December 2003.
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Canberra, November 1996. Introducing Bill Clinton to the Speaker and Senate President. Hillary Clinton and Janette are looking on.
The White House
Presenting Nelson Mandela with an Honorary Award in the Order of Australia in Pretoria, South Africa, November 1999.
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Hopes for Israeli–Palestinian peace were high when, with world Jewish leader Isi Leibler (right), I met Yasser Arafat in May 2000. Arafat did not deliver.
George Bush and I exchange views on our ponchos at the APEC meeting held in Santiago, Chile, in November 2004. We keep in close touch.
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Tony Blair and I held many similar world views, especially on the threat of terrorism, even though our politics were different.
The British Government
China’s President, Jiang Zemin, and I share a joke at one of our many meetings. We had a close and productive relationship. I liked him.
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Australia’s trade with China grew dramatically under the leadership of Premier Wen Jiabao (pictured) and President Hu Jintao.
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With President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono and his wife, Ani, at Batam, Indonesia, in June 2006. Our links strengthened the Australian–Indonesian bilateral relationship.
With Junichiro Koizumi, the longest-serving and most reform-minded of the Japanese prime ministers I knew. He was colourful as well.
Prime Minister’s Office, Tokyo, Japanese Government
Meeting Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. His strong moral leadership did much to bring down the Soviet empire.
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On Sydney Harbour during APEC 2007 with Condoleezza Rice, the gifted US Secretary of State and great friend of Australia.
The White House
Joining hands with Manmohan Singh of India and Abdullah Badawi of Malaysia at the inaugural East Asia Summit meeting, December 2005.
Auspic
NOTES
PART 1: Early Life and the Fraser Government
Chapter 1: The Source
1 Les Carlyon, The Great War, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2006.
2 Tony Wright, ‘Howard’s coming home of the heart’, Age, 30 April 2000.
Chapter 5: ‘The Only Game in Town’
1 Based on interviews with Ainslie Gotto and Ian Hancock, Gorton’s biographer; they are both emphatically of the view that he would have voted against a republic.
2 Gough Whitlam, ‘It’s Time For Leadership’, Blacktown Civic Centre, 13 November 1972; see www.australianpolitics.com, viewed 12 August 2010.
Chapter
7: The Honourable Member for Bennelong
1 Frank Crean MP, Treasurer, Second Reading (Budget Speech), Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 1974–75, Australia, House of Representatives, Debates, 17 September 1974, p. 1276.
Chapter 8: Fraser Takes Over
1 Philip Ayres, Malcolm Fraser: A Biography, Mandarin, Port Melbourne, 1989, p. 245.
Chapter 9: The Dismissal
1 ‘Nothing will save the Governor-General’, Age, 5 November 2005.
Chapter 11: ‘May I Speak to the Treasurer?’
1 J.O. Stone, Secretary to the Treasury, memo to Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia, 3 April 1979.
2 P.W. McCabe & D.J. Lafranchi, Report of inspectors appointed to investigate the particular affairs of Navillus Pty Ltd and 922 other companies, Victorian Parliament, Melbourne, 1982.
Chapter 12: ‘Your Indirect Tax Is Dead, Cobber’
1 Michelle Grattan, ‘PM puts taxation changes in doubt’, Age, 10 February 1981.
Chapter 13: Fooled by Flinders
1 Paul Keating MP, shadow Treasurer, ‘Mr Howard and Foreign Bank Entry’, press statement, 26 January 1983.
2 ‘Bob Hawke talks to Richard Carleton’, Nationwide, ABC Television, broadcast 3 February 1983.
PART 2: The Opposition Years
Chapter 14: Peacock vs Howard
1 Kerry Coyle, ‘Peacock, Howard returned’, Canberra Times, 8 December 1984.
Chapter 16: Joh for PM
1 H. Brown, ‘Premier to set national political agenda’, Australian, 3 November 1986.
2 M. Taylor, ‘Hinze claims Peacock would be better leader’, Australian, 3 November 1986.
3 S. Rous, ‘Wagga goes wild as Joh gets political’, Courier Mail, 2 February 1987.
4 P. Davey, The Nationals: the Progressive, Country, and National Party in New South Wales 1919–2006, Federation Press, Annandale, 2006, p. 288.
5 John Howard MP, Leader of the Opposition, news release by the Coalition, Canberra, 28 April 1987.
Chapter 18: The ‘Unlosable’ Election
1 Australia, House of Representatives, Debates, 5 November 1992, p. 2733.
2 The Hon. Paul Keating, Prime Minister of Australia, election victory speech, Bankstown Sports Club, 13 March 1993.
Chapter 19: Lazarus Has His Triple Bypass
1 Greg Sheridan, ‘“I was wrong on Asians”, says Howard’, Weekend Australian, 7–8 January 1995.
PART 3: Prime Minister
Chapter 22: Seizing the Day on Guns
1 P. Alpers, K. Agho & S. Chapman, ‘Australia’s 1996 gun law reforms: Faster falls in firearm deaths, firearm suicides, and a decade without mass shootings’, Injury Prevention, no. 12, 2006.
2 Peter Martin, ‘Howard’s gun legacy — 200 lives saved a year’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 August 2010.
Chapter 23: Pauline Hanson
1 Pauline Hanson MP, maiden speech, 10 September 1996.
Chapter 24: The Foundation Budget
1 Brett de Vine & Malcolm Farr, ‘Fair go for middle Australia’, Daily Telegraph, 21 August 1996.
Chapter 25: The Challenge of Indigenous Policy
1 B. Hawke, The Hawke Memoirs, William Heinemann, Port Melbourne, 1994, p. 435.
2 Paul Kelly, ‘Black leaders offer new accord’, Weekend Australian, 4 December 2004.
3 ‘Special Minister of State responds to criticisms from church groups over the native title legislation’, ABC Radio, broadcast on 5 November 1997.
4 Noel Pearson, ‘When words aren’t enough’, Australian, 12 February 2008.
Chapter 26: On the Waterfront
1 M. Steketee, ‘A time to embrace, a time to speak’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 April 1983.
2 Grant Thornton, Report to Creditors — Patrick Companies under Administration, 16 May 1998.
3 Chris Corrigan et al., ‘The Battle for Australia’s Waterfront’, address to The Sydney Institute, 27 June 2000.
4 Ibid.
5 Access Economics Pty Ltd in conjunction with Maunsell Australia Pty Ltd, Benchmarking Technology on the Australian Waterfront: Implications for Agricultural Exports Publication No. 02/116, a report for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, August 2002.
Chapter 28: We Still Want You, Ma’am — the Republican Debate
1 Tony Stephens, ‘The day democracy rained on a sunny boy’s parade’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November 1999.
2 Constitutional Convention, Old Parliament House, Canberra, transcript of proceedings (Day 7), 10 February 1998.
3 Constitutional Convention, Old Parliament House, Canberra, transcript of proceedings (Day 3), 4 February 1998.
4 Sir John Kerr, Matters for Judgement, Macmillan, South Melbourne & Artarmon, 1978, pp. 374–75.
5 Final Report of the Constitutional Commission, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988.
6 Michael Kirby, ‘A Centenary Reflection on the Australian Constitution: the Republic Referendum 1999’, Menzies Memorial Lecture, King’s College, London, 4 July 2000.
Chapter 29: The Liberation of East Timor
1 Alexander Downer, ‘East Timor — Looking Back on 1999’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2000: 5–10.
2 Letter from Alexander Downer MP, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to HE Ali Alatas SH, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia, 1998.
3 Letter from the Hon. John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, to H Dr B.J. Habibie, President, Republic of Indonesia, 19 December 1998.
4 United Nations, Report of the Security Council Mission to Jakarta and Dili, 8–12 September 1999.
5 ‘Opposition leader discusses East Timor’, Radio 6PR, broadcast on 5 October 1999.
Chapter 30: An Excess of Excise — the Pre-Tampa Recovery
1 Ian Henderson, ‘Drivers short-changed $3bn’, Australian, 9 February 2001.
2 Laura Tingle, ‘Australia hits the wall’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 March 2001.
Chapter 31: Washington, 11 September 2001
1 ‘Florida Schoolchildren Recall Their Moments with President Bush on Sept. 11’, Fox News, 7 September 2006, www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212775,00.html (accessed 25 March, 2010).
2 George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, 20 September 2001, the White House, Washington, D.C.
Chapter 32: MV Tampa
1 Australia, House of Representatives 2001, Debates (Hansard, 29 August 2001), p. 30570.
2 People Smuggling Taskforce, Options For Handling Unauthorised Arrivals: Christmas Island Boat, Canberra, 7 October 2001.
3 The Hon. John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, National Press Club, Canberra, 8 November 2001.
4 ‘Admiral sails away from “children overboard” view’, The 7.30 Report, ABC Television, broadcast 27 February 2002.
Chapter 33: The Bali Attack
1 ‘Operation Bali Assist: The Australian Defence Force response to the Bali bombing’, the Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 177, 2/16 December 2002; 620–23.
Chapter 34: Iraq
1 President George W. Bush, address to the United Nations General Assembly, New York, 23 September 2002, Office of the Press Secretary, United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.
2 President Barack Obama, statement on the release of Nuclear Posture Review, 6 April 2010, Office of the Press Secretary, the White House.
3 ‘Bin Laden rails against Crusaders and UN’, BBC News, 3 November 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/1636782.stm (accessed 26 March 2010).
4 William J. Clinton, Remarks of the President on Iraq, The White House, Washington, D.C., Office of the Press Secretary, 19 December 1998.
5 William J. Clinton, Remarks by the President on Iraq to Pentagon Personnel, Office of the Press Secretary, 17 February 1998.
6 Kenneth Pollack, The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq, Random House, New York, p. 102.
7 Jean Kirkpatrick, ‘Legitimate War: The Case of Iraq’, American
Enterprise Institute Friday Forum, 13 June 2003.
8 Floor speech of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on S.J. Res. 45, A Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, 10 October 2002.
9 Floor speech of Senator Joseph Biden on S.J. Res. 45, A Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, 10 October 2002.
10 Hans Blix, Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix’s report to the UN on Iraq, United Nations, New York, 27 January 2003.