Howard’s legacy will be argued about interminably. Politically, he is the most successful prime minister of all time. As a tactician, he has few peers. But in the end we knew him. He was a politician and nothing else – the most chilling (and repeated) revelation in the fascinating Errington-van Onselen biography. His failing was that he did not really know us.
The Australia about which he waxed lyrical existed only in his imagination. It was an Australia frozen in mid-afternoon sunshine, the gleaming Holden in the driveway, mum baking cakes, Aborigines keeping quiet and out of sight, divorce unknown, workers subservient and respectful and homos-xuals simply not existing. Authority was always right and always obeyed.
This was the private vision he tried to thrust upon a nation. He wrapped himself in the Anzac myth and glorified all things military. But it was comic-book stuff. Did he ever serve in uniform? Did he ever volunteer for the old CMF? Did he ever endure the sheer and mindless tedium of the parade ground and the entrenched stupidity of the military mind?
Similarly in the workplace, did he ever work for a complete incompetent? Was he ever bullied and harassed? Was he ever sacked? Did he ever tell a boss to shove it? Did he ever, even just once in his life, take a sickie?
No, John, you never really knew this Australia.
(Declaration: The writer is a former soldier, has worked for innumerable incompetents, and has taken the odd sickie. He suspects he is not alone.)
He did not know Australia, and Australia generally suffered for it.
Without even looking at the detrimental effect on our international image, what about what Howard did to ‘decent married Australians’?
Howard in fact attacked and betrayed decent, (cont.)
Is Tony Papafilis Australia’s Stephen Colbert?
JWH’s limited life experience has caused me wonder on what basis he founded his convictions. I have always been concerned by how much life experience a person has who, lived at home with his Mummy, until he left to marry at 32 yrs of age!
Howard knew Australia well. He simply refused to betray the decent, married, normal Australians that are the majority. Alas, a small part of that majority deserted the Libs more so than Howard, perhaps because of alarming Liberal drift to left since 2004.
Plat, how quickly we forget. A big gripe against Labor in 96 was 13 yrs of attacking families, esp single income families, reflecting left view of homemaker mums as middle age appendages. Howard delivered: family benefits A & B, $600 kid bonus, baby bonus