John Howard
Overview
 
John Winston Howard AC, SSI
Star of the Solomon Islands
The Star of the Solomon Islands, established in 1981 is the highest honour of the Solomon Islands. Recipients are allowed to use the post nominal "SSI".-Recipients:Notable recipients include:* Helen Clark, ONZ* John Howard, AC...

, (born 26 July 1939) was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....

.

Howard was a member of the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 from 1974
Australian federal election, 1974
Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution...

 to 2007, representing the Division of Bennelong
Division of Bennelong
The Division of Bennelong is an Australian electorate in New South Wales. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Bennelong, an Aboriginal man befriended by the first Governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip...

, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. He served as Treasurer
Treasurer of Australia
The Treasurer of Australia is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising. He is the head of the Department of the Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in the economic policy of the government...

 in the Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...

 government
Second Fraser Ministry
The Second Fraser Ministry was the fifty-second Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 22 December 1975 to 20 December 1977.Liberal Party of Australia–National Country Party Coalition-Cabinet:*Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser, MP: Prime Minister...

 of from 1977 to 1983. He was Leader of the Liberal Party and Coalition
Coalition (Australia)
The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...

 Opposition from 1985 to 1989, which included the 1987 federal election against Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....

.
Quotations

The most important civil liberty... is to stay alive and to be free from violence and death...

Terrorism Summit (Friday, August 5, 2005)

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.

Terrorism Summit (Friday, August 5, 2005)

Truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in national political life.

ABC Radio "AM" (25 August 1995)

We are not a federation of tribes. We are one great tribe; one Australia.

October 16th, 2007

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.

Press conference, 9th of May 1989, after losing the Liberal Party leadership.

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.

Speech at Australian National History Summit 2008.

I've never believed in lower wages. Never. Never believed in lower wages, I've never believed in lower wages as an economic instrument.

Interview with Four Corners (TV series)|Four Corners, ABC TV, 19 February 1996.

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.

1996 Sir Robert Menzies Lecture

We decide who comes into this country, and the circumstances in which they come.

Speech used in advertising material by the Liberal Party in the 2001 Federal election.

 
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