He Did It His Way—Goodbye John Winston Howard

On Saturday, November 24, 2007, the people of Australia went to the polls. Australia's economy is booming, the people are getting wealthier at an astonishing rate, stock market and real estate prices are at record heights, the restaurants, shops and theatres are full, everyone's got a new car...and the plastic surgeons are doing record business.

In spite of all this "gang-busting good times", the Australian people threw out Prime Minister John Howard and his Liberal Party. To add more insult to the PM, John Howard lost his seat of Bennelong—which he held for 33 years. He was ousted by ex-ABC TV personality and first time politico Maxine McKew.

The results of this election might be proof that the Australian people don't care just for economic strength—the people representing them in government had better be "nice", or else.

I have only 2 major issues with John Howard:

Firstly the disarming of Australia within his first year in office, introducing the world's toughest gun control laws, costing around 500 million (taxpayer) dollars. It was called the "Gun Buyback" where the government used tax dollars to "buyback" firearms owned private citizens. Bear in mind gun ownership among adults was around 5%. Not that high. However gun politics is alive and well in Australia.

A study published in 2006 by the British Journal of Criminology showed that Buyback had no significant effect on the national homicide rate. Source: Buyback has no effect on murder rate

The second issue I have with Howard is going to an undeclared war in Iraq on some flimsy notion (some say a complete lie) about Iraq having WMDs (Weapons Of Mass Destruction) which were supposedly a threat to people in the free world.

Any Mr Howard, enjoy your retirement. I'm not really sorry to see you go, but hey, now you have a life of your own, and free first class travel anywhere, anytime for the rest of your life. Not so bad huh?

The Chasers - He Did It His Way John Winston Howard tribute




...and of course the double-whammy of losing the seat of Bennelong to neophyte Maxine McKew, a seat John Howard held for 33 years.


John Howard 2007 Bennelong Time Since I Rock and Rolled
(music by Led Zeppelin)