John howard how long was prime minister

The Federal Court upholds the validity of native title sea rights relating to Croker Island in the Northern Territory on 3 December The government had appealed against an earlier Native Title Tribunal decision. The bid was lauded for transforming polluted land around Homebush Bay into a model Olympic village. The agreement comes into operation on 1 January On 26 December a massive tsunami brought major devastation and loss of life to eleven countries, including Indonesia.

After only two months in office, Howard was confronted by the tragic shooting at Port Arthur in Tasmania. He responded decisively, introducing uniform gun laws and a gun buy-back scheme. After intensive bargaining with the Senate, Howard obtained the numbers to allow for the sale of up to half of Telstra.

Industrial relations reform was always a core issue for Howard and in January the Workplace Relations amendments were passed. Howard narrowly won the election and the GST came into operation from 1 July In the government supported the East Timorese independence push from Indonesia and Australian troops led the United Nations peace keeping force deployed to Timor.

During the election campaign the Norwegian ship MV Tampa was prevented from landing rescued Afghan refugees in Australian waters. The issue of national security took on increased significance after al-Qaeda terrorists attacked New York on 11 September Australian troops were sent to Afghanistan and Iraq in to support the American-led coalition.

Also domestically security was heightened in response to the loss of Australian lives in the Bali bombing. Howard won a fourth term in , but was weakened by the strong reaction against his WorkChoices reform.

In his management of the party and Cabinet, Howard again showed how well he had learnt from his experience as opposition leader. He is a very good tester in that way. At these meetings all members who wanted to speak were given an opportunity, Howard generally did not interrupt or let others do so.

Howard understood the importance of open dialogue with the backbench. In his relations with Coalition partner the Nationals, Howard recognised the need for them to acknowledge their constituency and on occasion differentiate themselves from Liberal initiatives.

As the election approached, Howard was increasingly looking out of touch compared to a resurgent Labor under Kevin Rudd and the leadership rivalry with Peter Costello remained unresolved. Howard asked Alexander Downer to sound out his colleagues on the future of his leadership, but in the end they would not push out the leader who had won four elections.

The exhibition had been curated by David Frith, a cricket historian and founding editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly. John Howard. In Howard married Janette Parker, and they had a daughter and two sons. Entry to federal politics. Prime Minister John Howard. Memorial site of the Port Arthur massacre. Legislation to replace industry-wide industrial agreements on wages and work conditions with workplace agreements between individual workers and employers.

Establishment of a part-appointed, part-elected convention on the issue of Australia becoming a republic. The referendum, along with a proposal sponsored by the Prime Minister to add a Preamble to the Australian Constitution, was rejected. Funding environmental protection by privatising partial ownership of its communications corporation, Telstra.

One third of Telstra was sold in and the government then moved to sell all of Telstra in The Senate eventually accepted the bills permitting the partial The government announced this new tax proposal prior to the election, and, supported by the Australian Democrats who had demanded modification of the GST bills, succeeded in persuading the Senate to accept GST legislation in June A focus on domestic and regional security in response to the terrorist attack in the United States on 11 September and the bombing of a nightclub in Bali , Indonesia in October This included increased funding for intelligence agencies, aviation, maritime and border security and regional counter-terrorism measures.

From shared responsibility agreements were introduced in which Indigenous communities defined the changes they would implement in return for government funding. Negotiation of a free trade agreement with the United States in , and pursuit of closer economic agreements with countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

A closer commitment to regional neighbours also led to Australia lending significant military and police assistance to East Timor, Solomon Islands and Tonga, and continued assistance to Papua New Guinea. Further changes to industrial relations in through the introduction of WorkChoices. This created a national workplace relations system, significant changes to unfair dismissal laws and introduction of the Australian Fair Pay Commission. Establishment of the National Water Commission in and, in , the National Plan for Water Security in response to the severe and prolonged drought.

National Firearms Program Implementation Act , which funded the gun buy-back scheme. The Act provided for financial assistance to the States and Territories to compensate firearms owners and dealers. Official visit to UK, March Official visit to UK, April Official visit to East Timor and China, May Official visit to USA, June Official visit to Papua New Guinea, August Pacific Islands Forum, Fiji, August Official visit to Nigeria and UK, September Official visit to Bali and Mexico, October Official visit to New Zealand, March Official visit to China, August Official visit to Solomon Islands, August Official visit to Bali, October Official visit to Thailand, October Official visit to UK, November Official visit to Solomon Islands, December Official visit to Iraq, April Pacific Islands Forum, Samoa, August Official visit to Chile, November Official visit to Laos, November Official visit to Indonesia, January Official visit to Switzerland, Indonesia, January-February Official visit to India, March Official visit to Indonesia and China, June Official visit to East Timor, July Pacific Islands Forum, Fiji, October Official visit to Malaysia, November-December