Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Mar. '96 Howard led conservatives beat Hawke and Keating ..


23rd Prime Minister of Australia
Elections: 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990


Keating in 2007

24th Prime Minister of Australia
Elections: 1993, 1996
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawke-Keating_Government

who had been in 13 years .. H/K mucho reform .. Keating floated dollar .. LOL, i think we hit about .52 of the $US back then .. then Howard GST plus troops out (i think) in a huge wharf dispute .. gun laws .. much change, too .. cycles .. the wheels on your political bicycle-cycle are bumpier (Palinisque/TPantry people/evangelists/Wayne Swan's crazies, most of our transitions tend to be a bit smoother .. hmm, 'cept Whitlam/Fraser ..

Gough Whitlam


21st Prime Minister of Australia
Elections: 1972, 1974

Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC (born 11 July 1916), known as Gough Whitlam (pron.: /'g?f 'w?tl?m/ GOFF WIT-l?m), served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Prime Minister to have his commission terminated in that manner. ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam

We are kinda a 50-50 place, too, not quite astribal .. yet .. very few give give Julia Gillard's Labor much chance at the next election .. BUT .. she personally gaining, am thinking her party will more, too .. and Abbott personal popularity is lower than Julia's .. Labor still losing on two party preferred polls .. jobs situation further weakened .. carbon tax, mining tax good moves .. lack of appreciation of science so that ignorance will be a factor in how close it is .. anyway, i drifted .. yes elected 4 times ..

John Howard


25th Prime Minister of Australia
Elections: 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007

John Winston Howard, OM, AC, SSI, (born 26 July 1939) was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies.

Howard was a member of the House of Representatives from 1974 to 2007, representing the Division of Bennelong, New South Wales. He served as Treasurer in the Fraser government from 1977 to 1983. He was Leader of the Liberal Party and Coalition Opposition from 1985 to 1989, which included the 1987 federal election against Bob Hawke. He was re-elected as Leader of the Opposition in 1995.

Howard led the Liberal-National coalition to victory at the 1996 federal election, defeating Paul Keating's Labor government and ending a record 13 years of Coalition opposition. The Howard Government was re-elected at the 1998, 2001 and 2004 elections, presiding over a period of strong economic growth and prosperity. Major issues for the Howard Government included taxation, industrial relations, immigration, the Iraq war, and Aboriginal relations. Howard's coalition government was defeated at the 2007 election by the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd. Howard also lost his own parliamentary seat at the election; he was the second Australian Prime Minister, after Stanley Bruce in 1929, to do so. .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard

.. thanks .. so much is hard to recall exactly .. John Howard was no Bush (though he LOVED him and would have followed George anywhere) Romney or McCarthy .. a white picket fence traditional kind of guy .. a good politician .. chuckle .. nicknamed "honest john" ..