I'm not running away from the fact that I had previously said I did not contemplate a major increase, and that was a fair statement of the Government's state of mind at the time I made that.

In 1967 with the support of party power brokers John Carrick and Eric Willis he was endorsed as candidate for the marginal suburban state seat of Drummoyne held by ALP member Reg Coady. In May 2003 Howard made an overnight stay at Bush's Prairie Chapel Ranch in Texas after which Bush said that Howard ".

He was Leader of the Liberal Party and Coalition Opposition from 1985 to 1989 which included the 1987 federal election against Bob Hawke. Howard's coalition government was defeated at the 2007 election by the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd.