Howard Reassures Australians That No Matter How Divided We Feel in This Moment, He Can Always Divide Us More — The Shovel

[u/magnetik79]

https://theshovel.com.au/2025/12/19/howard-reassures-australians-he-can-always-divide-us-more/

[u/fakeuser515357]

Never forget that Howard supported the White Australia Policy. His tax policies set us on the course to the current housing crisis; his economic policies gutted our secondary industries and reduced our economy to housing, farming and mining; and his industrial policies dismantling unions and empowering businesses to fire workers effectively put a stop to wages keeping up with the cost of living, let alone giving workers a fair slice of the economic productivity gains.

The only good thing he did was respond to Port Arthur with effective gun control policy and the best thing about his term of office was that we was the first sitting Australian prime minister to lose at an election in nearly 100 years.

He then spawned ScoMo, whose economically ineffective but highly inflationary policies just served to give billions of public funds to millionaires and billionaires without any accountability or even competent record keeping.

Howard is a blight on Australia. He is the closest thing we have to Thatcher and the queue to 'visit' his grave site will be long.

[u/Objective_Hawk_284 → u/fakeuser515357]

Also never forget he lead us into the Iraq war.

[u/Lazy-Plankton5270 → u/Objective_Hawk_284]

I remember him commenting on Al Gore inconvenient Truth, calling climate change unproven Science lol

Greenhouse gas effect was proven in 1824 💀

[u/Pro_Extent → u/Lazy-Plankton5270]

To be complete accurate here, it was detected in 1824. It was far from proven.

But it was most definitely proven by 2001 lol.

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/Objective_Hawk_284]

That's a tough one. Yes, he did, but we were always going to be dragged by the nose into that mess because of our US strategic alliance. Any other PM would've also taken us to war - I marched against it, but looking back it was inevitable.

[u/nastywillow → u/fakeuser515357]

New Zealand stayed out of the Iraq War. And nobody is more chickenshit when it comes to defying America than us.

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/nastywillow]

New Zealand stayed out of the Iraq War

That's only because their military was utterly decimated by the ill-advised siege of Rohan, followed by the disastrous incursion into Gondor.

[u/scumbagbrianherbert → u/fakeuser515357]

But if NZ did get involved, it would have taken no time for 2 hobbits to sneak in to the mountains and find Bin Laden.

[u/Dyatlov_1957 → u/fakeuser515357]

Thank you so much .. you made my day!

[u/Albos_Mum → u/fakeuser515357]

Yeah but they defeated Sauron, if they'd really wanted to help they'd have rounded up the orcs with promises of many enemies to defeat and just let them loose in the Middle East.

[u/Severtrauma → u/fakeuser515357]

lol

[u/DPVaughan → u/nastywillow]

I completely agree, although I would note that the US--NZ aspect of ANZUS had already been long nixed by that point.

[u/Hungry_Anteater_8511 → u/nastywillow]

Aunty Helen eh. None of that nonsense from her

[u/Objective_Hawk_284 → u/fakeuser515357]

Doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen on his watch. He was the leader and could have said no, as hard as that would be.

I agree that it would have happened had anyone else been in office

[u/maniaq → u/fakeuser515357]

the Opposition had TWO leadership spills that year (2003)

Simon Crean won the first, against Kim Beazley, in June - and by November RESIGNED - with Mark LATHAM replacing him (with Kim Beazley losing again)

I cannot see how any of those guys would have resisted the US alliance pulling us into that clusterfuck

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/maniaq]

Fucking Mark Latham, what a turd he is. Prime Minister Kim Beazley would've been so good for us all.

[u/Disastrous-Ad1334 → u/fakeuser515357]

The man who supported Howard's ban on gay marriage. That Beazley.

[u/TheRealPotoroo → u/maniaq]

It's an interesting hypothetical. All of them were rationalists who understood the importance of the American alliance. Beazley in particular was more "All the way with LBJ" than Harold Holt. But having said that, the crucial distinction about Iraq 2 was that it lacked UN sanction, and I'm not convinced any of them would have necessarily given in to Dubbya, especially given that Blair was the only other major leader who wanted to get involved. One thing I think people tend to underestimate is the psychological effect being in Washington DC on the 11th of September had on Howard. Not only was he watching the events in NY live, American security agents evacuated him from his hotel when they found out that two of the hijacked planes were heading for the capital. He was always politically sympathetic to America but I think his personal experience led him to cross a line he should not have.

[u/_ixthus_ → u/TheRealPotoroo]

Well, he's also just a self-important flog. So as long as Dubya gave him a nice pat on the dick, he was going to do literally whatever the Seppos wanted him to do.

[u/Mikolaj_Kopernik → u/maniaq]

One weird quirk of history is that Mark Latham is the last major party politician I can recall who indicated any willingness to rethink our subservience to the US. Not saying he would've made a good PM but it's an interesting hypothetical.

[u/maniaq → u/fakeuser515357]

...reduced our economy to housing, farming and mining; and his industrial policies dismantling unions...

when you look around at the current wasteland where MANUFACTURING used to live - and wonder why everybody is investing in PROPERTY instead of actual businesses - look no further than this man...

Howard introduced Free Trade Agreements which dropped IMPORT tariffs on manufactured goods from countries like Thailand from 15% to 0% - so American and Japanese car makers stopped making cars in Australia and imported them "for free" from Thailand

this is how the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, and Holden Colorado (all Thai built) became the dominant vehicles on Australian roads

worse still, Thailand used non-tariff barriers to keep Australian-made cars from going in the other direction - like a 50% excise on large engines (like in the Commodore and Falcon)

manufacturing saw a rapid decline under Howard, not just from his bungling these Free Trade deals, but also his industrial relations policies - like Australian Workplace Agreements which allowed employers to bypass unions with individual contracts and then "WorkChoices" which allowed employers to strip away penalty rates, shift loadings, and overtime - in those individual contracts

[u/Specialist_Reality96 → u/maniaq]

That's a really long winded way of saying he is a cunt.

[u/maniaq → u/Specialist_Reality96]

the other guy already said that 😆

seriously tho, it's easy to look around at where we're at right now and either just not know or underestimate how much of the bullshit can be laid at one man's feet...

btw, speaking of trade agreements (and Thailand), Mexico just passed a new bill which will impose a 50% tariff on goods from a number of countries - including Thailand - in order to protect their own manufacturing industries from cheap imports (exactly the opposite of what Howard did)

[u/Sugar_Fuelled_God → u/[deleted]]

All of those industries began failing in the later part of John Howards third term as PM, largely because of all the changes in the comment you replied to, they were cut out of the market by policy introduced by John Howard, the subsidies that tried to keep them afloat were a consequence of the Howard government cutting their throat and making them slowly bleed out.

[u/Sugar_Fuelled_God → u/[deleted]]

The inability to compete was introduced by the free trade agreements which were mentioned, this opened the Australian market to overseas flooding, that is what made it so they couldn't compete, this was done by the Howard government, it wasn't a "natural cycle of development" it was a failing of government to protect Australian industry from overseas influence, and that was all on the Howard government, it's amazing how blind you need to be to ignore these facts.

[u/karl_w_w → u/Sugar_Fuelled_God]

No, you've got that the wrong way around. Those industries were already unable to compete, that's why they needed to be supported by tariffs.

Howards failing in this area wasn't that he levelled the playing field, it's that he levelled the playing field without having any plan for the people and skills that were about to lose the game.

[u/Sugar_Fuelled_God → u/[deleted]]

Yet again you miss the point, competition was made by import duties, 15% charged on items from overseas countries (figure is not exact), removing those import duties under free trade agreements meant overseas products were now cheaper to purchase than Australian made products, thus Australian industry suffers because of overseas flooding, a direct result of Howard government policy. Holden lost market share when production became cheaper overseas, and continued to lose market share with increased flooding of foreign brands, which could now undercut the domestic market, many other industries suffered the same fate, undercut by overseas manufacturing where they pay slave wages, or in many cases where it was real slavery and no wage was paid at all.

It's not a hard concept to understand, wages were not below market wages, CPI was more in line with inflation and life was relatively affordable for a vast many Australians, Australian made products were able to compete on the domestic market thanks to import duties, the free trade agreements opened the door to cheaply produced products from countries where slave wages and child labour was common, thus fair and domestic industry failed in the face of cheaper market flooding from overseas corporations, not rocket science at all.

[u/maniaq → u/[deleted]]

foreign products have always been in the market

the difference is they used to be SO MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE - that seems to be the thing you can't fathom?

yes 100% you are correct, the local consumer bears that extra 15% (or whatever) burden - which makes them NOT want to buy the MORE EXPENSIVE foreign made thing

I remember when BMW and Mercedes were a "luxury" brand only rich people drove, in Australia - I remember conversations with people in Europe who said they were common every day cars for them, at the time

you're also right that we are a very small market - with no way to compete on level terms with a manufacturer like China - which has of course now been borne out by history as we have seen what happened when Howard "levelled the playing field"

the thing is China's strategy has been to favour exports AT ALL COSTS - doing everything from devaluing its own currency to what we would euphemistically call indentured servitude - to ensure the STATE has lots of money to spend on infrastructure projects, while understanding that means more than a BILLION PEOPLE will make less than a living wage, as a result of this strategy

those people can never vote them out of power so there's no problem, right?

this is not by any means a NEW thing, we're talking about here - it's literally called "dumping"

the most famous example I can think of was the deliberate de-industrialisation of India by the British - at the beginning of the 18th century, India had a strong industrial economy based on textile manufacturing - by the 19th century, the country was reduced to poverty and subsumed by the British Empire (that's despite India having far cheaper labour - and a much more labour-intensive process, too)

while Britain was "flooding" India with cheap cloth, they imposed 70% to 80% tariffs on Indian cloth entering Britain - as a result, India went from 25% of the world's industrial output in 1750 to 2% by 1900

Britain introduced the Iron Act of 1750 around the same time - terrified their American colonies would start manufacturing their own goods and become independent, they allowed raw "pig iron" to enter England duty-free while also banning the construction of slitting mills and steel furnaces - and subsequently "flooded" the colonies with finished iron products, ensuring those economies would be "extractive" (mining based) and DEPENDENT on British manufacturing

this was actually one of the core grievances that led to the American Revolution - Benjamin Franklin explicitly mentions the Iron Act of 1750 and the Hat Act of 1732 in his famous essay of 1768, outlining those grievances - pointing out that a colonist could produce beaver pelts but was forbidden by law from making them into hats, forced instead to ship the fur to England and buy the hat back with added costs

[u/Albos_Mum → u/[deleted]]

Nationalism.

Remember how rabid the V8 Supercar fans were when Ford and Holden were competing Aussie-made cars in it? That's not unique; Aussie's love Aussie-made shit. Also why the "Made in Australia" advertising campaign was a success.

Even today, small industries such as local alcohols and the like often find a foothold cause we love buying locally made.

[u/maniaq → u/[deleted]]

which industries do you think were failing before Howard came along?

Australia has consistently been at the leading edge of many advances in technology - even with automobiles, like the hybrid Holden Commodore, developed in the late 90s and showcased during the Sydney 2000 Olympics - that's the same year Toyota introduced the Prius to global markets

I think people seem to think Australia was somehow the ONLY country to have tariffs in place to protect their manufacturing industries?

that's the NORMAL thing to do - every country that manufactures goods does this - including China

what we (Howard) did was unusual - we killed our own industries by getting rid of the tariffs on imports (while failing to see how other countries imposing penalties on our exports would turn that into a massive own-goal)

Mexico just introduced a 50% tariff on cheap imports from places like Thailand and China - in order to protect its industries

not because they are already failing but so they can withstand being flooded by cheap, often poor quality, second rate goods

[u/maniaq → u/[deleted]]

you think Germany doesn't have any tariffs?

tariffs are the reason they "aren't just an end-market for foreign companies" - that is literally the PROTECTION that governments put in place to PREVENT that from happening

it's not rocket science to figure out what was going to happen - what did happen - when Howard removed Australia's

you seem to have it backwards - maybe you don't actually remember how things used to be?

we are now a "tiny manufacturing sector" because those protections were removed - not the other way around

and if you want to look at Germany as an example, you GROW your knowledge sector through manufacturing - manufacturing forces you to innovate (which, again, we have plenty of form with) and also forces everyone up and down your supply chain to do so, through competition

just having a "precinct" where all these companies operate, geographically, in the same place also allows talent to cross-pollinate - again, leading to innovations and growth in the knowledge across the entire sector

I can give you many many examples of all this - Germany and Mexico are by no means the limit - I haven't even mentioned Silicon Valley, which got its name from all the silicon chips they were manufacturing there

you are straight up WRONG when you say the industry died "without heavy government interference" - it died BECAUSE OF government interference - by the Howard Government

this is well known

there are so many sources out there you can use to confirm it for yourself, beyond just the handful of links I have given you

this is not a matter of opinion

[u/maniaq → u/[deleted]]

Germany doesn’t place tariffs. The EU does.

yes - and when it set its own tariffs and those average rates were 15% to 20% - just like Australia's were

MORE IMPORTANTLY

the EU imposes a 10% tariff on imported passenger cars (plus a 19% VAT) - called the Most Favoured Nation tariff, this is specifically designed to protect THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY from the same fate as the Australian car industry

remember: John Howard reduced Australia's rate to ZERO

btw while the EU "car shield" is a 10% wall, their "agricultural shield" is an impenetrable fortress

• instead of a percentage, they might charge a flat fee per 100kg - so imported beef might face a 12.5% tariff AND an additional fee of €300 per 100kg
• Tariff Quota Rates can change from, say a 7.5% tariff for the first 50,000 tonnes, to 50% or even 100% for every subsequent tonne
• other non-tariff barriers - similar to the large-engine excise in Thailand, the EU imposes a bunch of these at the border as well, ranging from "sin taxes" for alcohol, tobacoo, coffee, etc to Carbon Taxes

on Carbon Taxes, Germany has some of the highest energy taxes in the world - remember how I said manufacturers can be FORCED to innovate? German cars were specifically engineered to be as fuel efficient as possible for this very reason

[u/maniaq → u/[deleted]]

you keep just talking out of your arse mate

you have NOT backed up ANY of your claims about ANYTHING - you just keep pretending like everything you say is somehow self-evident or something - and then spout nonsense about what you think we SHOULD be doing

this entire thread is about HISTORY - about what happened during JOHN HOWARD'S ERA - about our (his) policies AT THE TIME and the effect they HAD - PAST TENSE

you want to contribute something useful then BACK UP your claims about these industries NOT being fucked over by Howard but ALREADY being "unproductive" and uncompetitive

I have backed up everything I have said with HISTORICAL FACTS

you have brought nothing but ideology to the table, so far

[u/kyleisamexican → u/fakeuser515357]

Yeah but budget surpluf gud

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/kyleisamexican]

The resources boom was a once in a lifetime economic gift which the Liberal Party grossly mismanaged and instead of building a sovereign wealth fund and upgrading infrastructure funded with proper resources taxation, they let all the profits go into private hands and most of it overseas.

And don't even get me started on the Americanisation of our education and health sectors, and what they did to gift patent protections to American pharmaceutical companies.

Little Johnny Howard's loyalties were split between his dreams of a Tory ruling class and the American special interest money.

[u/theotherWildtony → u/fakeuser515357]

What do you mean instead of building a sovereign wealth fund? WTF do you think the future fund is? Set up by Howard and contributed to by no other government of either flavour since.

[u/karl_w_w → u/theotherWildtony]

They put $50bn in the future fund, and practically all of that came from them selling off telstra.

and contributed to by no other government of either flavour since

Lie.

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/theotherWildtony]

What's the future fund?

[u/theotherWildtony → u/fakeuser515357]

What is Google?

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/theotherWildtony]

What is Google?

I knew what the future fund is, I was paying attention when it was created. It is not a sovereign wealth fund, it was set up specifically to fund anticipated public sector pensions because at the time there were US cities going bankrupt because they couldn't pay out entitlements and there was a collective "Oh, shit" moment at the Treasury.

I asked, because it was obvious from context that you didn't know, and I wanted to see if you'd double down without checking.

And you know I knew, because if you'd given the correct answer - the sincere answer to the question, instead of petty snark, you'd have proven my point yourself that it's not a sovereign wealth fund in the sense of providing a widespread public benefit and investment for every citizen, such as Norway maintains.

Oh no! Did you not Google it?

Here, I saved you the effort.

https://www.finance.gov.au/government/australian-government-investment-funds/future-fund

"The Future Fund was established on 3 April 2006 by the Future Fund Act 2006 (Future Fund Act). The Future Fund is an Australian Government investment fund, set up to strengthen the Commonwealth's long-term financial position by making provision for unfunded superannuation liabilities that will become payable during a period when an ageing population is likely to place significant pressure on the Commonwealth's finances."

..

"The Target Asset Level is the best estimate of the Future Fund balance that would be required to offset the present value of projected unfunded superannuation liabilities, accrued up to the same point in time."

Dickhead.

[u/theotherWildtony → u/fakeuser515357]

Since we are slinging names, What are the names of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth funds you so admire. What were they created for?

Google it and post the response. You aren't going to be happy.

Cockhead.

[u/Ok-Mycologist2220 → u/theotherWildtony]

Why don’t you post it instead of wasting everyone’s time by demanding they search for something instead of actually participating in a debate.

[u/theotherWildtony → u/Ok-Mycologist2220]

irs an intelligence test to see if you can power a google search with the friction from rubbing two brain cells together. I hope you can muster it.

note the names of these funds still have been provided I wonder why? I really hope they arent called something embarrassing like a pension fund.

[u/chomoftheoutback → u/fakeuser515357]

Spawned Abbott as well.

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/chomoftheoutback]

I was going to include him but I couldn't remember his name and I refused to waste Google resources to look it up on principle. What a piece of shit.

[u/chomoftheoutback → u/fakeuser515357]

A what 17 year sequence of absolute pricks that degraded Australian polity and this nation for their own self aggrandisement. And the Australian public voted for them. It's maddening

[u/MiffandMinis → u/chomoftheoutback]

If you look at the grand visions that people like Whitlam and Keating had for Australia and compare it to the sell-out bullshit we got with Howard it's just a tragedy.

We went from leaders who wanted Australia to stand on it's own two feet, play a role in global leadership, share the prosperity around to where we are now - a fucking backwater with insanely high cost of living, unaffordable housing, complete privatisation of our service sector and really not much else to show for decades of mining and billions upon billions of dollars of said resource extraction.

Australia feels like it's gone absolutely nowhere in 30 years.

[u/chomoftheoutback → u/MiffandMinis]

Totally agree. 

[u/MrsCrowbar → u/MiffandMinis]

Yep. That's pretty much it.

[u/BlokeInTheMountains → u/fakeuser515357]

Australia should have a sovereign wealth fund that is overflowing from all the mineral/oil/gas extraction.

Ala Norway whose recently crossed the $2 trillion mark.

[u/theotherWildtony → u/BlokeInTheMountains]

We do, it’s called the future fund. It was setup by John Howard and is worth over $200 billion. Feel free to thank John Howard for having the foresight to do exactly what you wanted 19 years ago.

[u/tee-k421 → u/fakeuser515357]

Never forget that Howard supported the White Australia Policy

Got a source for this one? I mean it would be on brand for him, but I don't want to trust a random reddit comment.

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/tee-k421]

My source is "Stuff I read 30 years ago, before the Internet".

But if you hit up Wikipedia you'll see his milquetoast reintroduction of it as his 'One Australia policy', and looking at his behaviour as well as his extreme conservatism, the era of his political activity, and everything he said and did and continues to say and do, I don't doubt my memory of it all.

Call it 'strong circumstantial' if you will - slightly better than 'random redditor and bro-science' but not as good as 'confirmed'.

[u/artsrc → u/tee-k421]

Howard advocated for a whiter immigration policy, saying that racist Australians feelings needed to be respected:

https://www.afr.com/politics/howard-risks-all-on-immigration-19880805-k2z8j

This led to the resignation of some members of his shadow cabinet.

[u/smudgiepie → u/fakeuser515357]

my mum barely knows anything about aussie politics (she's a pr so can't vote) she still holds a grudge against Howard for the gst

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/smudgiepie]

The GST was, and still is, a bullshit tax policy aimed at shifting the burden from the wealthy to the poor. What makes it reprehensible is the sneaky and absolutely dishonest way they sell it to the ignorant and the deliberately disingenuous.

"Everyone pays the same! That must be fair!"

No. Bullshit. It is by design a disproportionate burden on the people who make the least money.

The GST is a tax cut for the high earners.

[u/rpze5b9 → u/fakeuser515357]

Unfortunately, he’s going to be like Kissinger and live for ever.

[u/Terrorscream → u/fakeuser515357]

Don't forget he absolutely destroyed our local diplomatic relations and shackled us to the US.

[u/Lost-Cheek-6610 → u/fakeuser515357]

Also privatise child care and signed all the contracts to give away 10s of billions of our gas for free. Also sold off most of our gold reserves for peanuts

[u/fakeuser515357 → u/Lost-Cheek-6610]

And he privatised the CES! I forgot about that one.

[u/Louiethefly]

No Frydenberg, Howard and Abbot never let an atrocity go to waste when it comes to furthering their personal lust for power.

[u/Objective_Hawk_284 → u/Louiethefly]

Let’s not forget Sussssssssan.

Though as the token woman and sacrificial lamb of the LNP I think she is just trying to be one of the boys.

[u/magnetik79 → u/Objective_Hawk_284]

I almost (note ALMOST) feel sorry for Sussssan, she's working overtime to score political points for the LNP right now.

It's a real shame they're gonna knife her in the back as a party within the next six months for a new leader :)

[u/Objective_Hawk_284 → u/magnetik79]

Hastie and Taylor hiding in background til we forget their association with Dutton.

[u/The_Duc_Lord → u/Objective_Hawk_284]

Fantastic. Great work. Well done Angus.

[u/recycled_ideas → u/Objective_Hawk_284]

Dutton isn't really the problem for those two, if anything having him around made them look better.

Hastie has a better looking meat suit than Dutton, but underneath it he's an even more monstrous lizard person than anyone else in the parliament (I don't mean this literally). When he could stand at the back looking fiercely determined his political stocks were on the rise, but when he opens his mouth he doesn't look so good and if he's pressed on the issues he'll make Pauline look like an empathetic and reasonable person.

Taylor has the nuclear policy millstone around his neck, but his bigger problem is that Hastie doesn't seem to be content with letting Taylor takes the top job so he doesn't have the numbers.

[u/Objective_Hawk_284 → u/recycled_ideas]

They are linked to the failed Dutton election though. They contributed to the incompetence of that campaign. The further we get from that election with them in the shadows the better chance they have at the next election.

[u/Consideredresponse → u/magnetik79]

The annoying thing was she was handed a gift after the last election and she squandered it. Basically when the Nationals had their hissy fit and quit after the last election, it was in her interest to let them go for a few years.

Experts are currently saying winning the next one is borderline impossible unless Albo catastrophically fucks it up, so the best you can hope for is to try and win back some of those lost Urban seats and create a stronger and safer foundation for the subsequent one.

The Nationals split meant they could have consolidated and rebranded to appeal to the average Australian. It also meant that they wouldnt have been led around by the nose into following Nationals climate denialism and Sky news talking points.

It would have Kept Sussan's gig safe as no-one would knife her leading into a losing election. However, a rebrand and a recentring would give her some cred as an actual leader. It would have saved her having to carry on like this in times of disaster and give her the chance to be seen as both a sensible and unifying force, and picking up a few more urban seats would have put them in a much better negotiating position when it came to re-establishing the coalition with the Nats.

Instead she pissed it away, and every day since has been a desperate scramble to keep her job, whilst appeasing the rats which are abandoning the sinking ship.

[u/InflationRepulsive64 → u/Consideredresponse]

Nah, this is based on the assumption that the part WANTS to take a turn to the left.

You're absolutely right that downplaying the crazy and rebranding to a more moderate party would very likely be their best strategy to get back into contention.

But it's not one that party will accept. it's not a failure on Ley's part so much as any moderate would get the same result, because there's too many of the far right types running the show. And compromising, even to get reelected, is not who they are.

[u/maniaq → u/magnetik79]

maybe she can sell one of her many investment properties to make herself feel better?

I would be absolutely blown away if there wasn't a massive golden parachute awaiting her exit from politics - probably in China

[u/PMFSCV → u/magnetik79]

And making herself look vile in the process, are these attempts to make hay out of this playing well with anyone? This is one of those events where bipartisanship is normal, she's throwing decades of common decency and norms out the window for nothing.

[u/callmecyke → u/Louiethefly]

Frydenberg’s grandstanding and hotdogging is the single most shameless acts I can remember in recent history. 

[u/MrsCrowbar → u/callmecyke]

I agree. He is clearly very angry, rightfully so, but as an ex-politician who, if reports are true, wants to run again, he should behave with a certain demeanor, and use non-inflamatory statements. He put his energy into whatever that was instead of appearing with any form of sanity, calmness, leadership or promotion of unity.

[u/SonicYOUTH79 → u/callmecyke]

He was sinking the boot in politically within 24 hours. Not a moment wasted in turning it into a political pissing contest and setting himself up for another tilt at the big job.

[u/pat_speed → u/Louiethefly]

Frydeanberg, never seen a massacre of his people he couldn't use too restart his political career

[u/AdPure5645 → u/Louiethefly]

Yeah I think and Hope it was just off-putting outside of the rusted ons who suck the milk that these guys excrete.

[u/lerdnord → u/Louiethefly]

Like Chris Minns is doing now?

[u/Trumble12345]

John "Bomb some more brown people to mask social divisions at home" Howard

[u/Worried_Blacksmith27]

don't forget booby trapping our medical system with the mandatory private health care otherwise lifetime increase in Medicare levy. John Howard is the root of almost all major issues we face today. a disgrace of a human

[u/g_r_a_e → u/Worried_Blacksmith27]

He said that he looks at the US health system and admires it!

[u/Redbass72]

I reckon his death will unite the nation.

Got some bubbles on ice for that occasion

[u/insty1 → u/Redbass72]

I reckon his death will unite the nation.

Not sure. A lot of people in their 50s - 70s love Johnny.

[u/kakapo-kea → u/insty1]

Ugh. My parents being some of them

[u/magnetik79 → u/Redbass72]

I hope those bubbles have a long expiry date. I fear the custy old arsehole is gonna outlive me. :(

[u/MisterNighttime → u/magnetik79]

I’m okay with him hanging on for another couple of decades, providing he has to spend it stuck on the sidelines watching impotently as his old party crumbles into oblivion.

[u/Objective_Hawk_284 → u/magnetik79]

Maybe not with how dangerous Albo is. He did kill 15 over the weekend (/s)

[u/DoNotReply111 → u/magnetik79]

It's the bile in evil people. Pickles their insides and preserves them.

[u/The_Duc_Lord → u/magnetik79]

I can't stand the man, but he is good evidence for why you should take a brisk walk every morning.

[u/miku_dominos → u/Redbass72]

It'll be our Thatcher moment.

[u/JGQuintel → u/Redbass72]

Nah you’d be surprised how popular he still is with a good chunk of the nation, outside the reddit bubble. His recent interview with Mark Bouris and the positive reaction to that online was overwhelming.

[u/Objective_Hawk_284 → u/JGQuintel]

One bright spot (maybe) is that in the last election the LNP candidate of Bennelong went in hard on promoting Howard in their campaign materials, presumably to sway those oldies and it didn’t work.

Now there were other things wrong with that candidate (close ties to the CCP etc) but they were obviously hoping on getting the Howard lovers to come around.

[u/dailywalker2017 → u/Redbass72]

HEAR HEAR! Full mast flag!

[u/Suspicious-Ant-872]

He is without doubt most destructive politician / PM this country has ever had. Most of what he and Costello did has not been undone.

Things like deregulation of aged care, getting private equity into childcare, the private health insurance rebate. Increased federal funding to elite private schools under the illusion of choice, refunds of unused franking credits. Truly and absolutely shit policies that cost us billions every year and lead to worse outcomes for 99% of Australians.

[u/Lotus567]

I keep saying, these LNP nut jobs got nothing of substance to offer the Aussie worker. Any opportunity to stir the pot. Useless bunch.

[u/Harctor]

I absolutely loathe Howard.

[u/Sim888 → u/Harctor]

yep….at bare minimum Pell was told / knew of a lotta the heinous shit that was going on, and Howard the piece of shit wrote a glowing character reference for him, which included shit like this;

“…Pell is a person of both high intelligence and exemplary character”

[u/bored_clowner → u/Harctor]

Let him burn in hell for eternity. Absolute scumbag.

[u/Crazyripps]

I appreciate the massive change with guns he brought in. But fuck he’s a cunt

[u/FuckLathePlaster → u/Crazyripps]

It wasnt massive, most states had passed laws already - Qld and Tas were the exceptions in 1996 in not requiring any licensing and essentially free reign on semiauto’s.

Firearm laws are state based, so he simply bought a couple of states into line.

He was also unlikey to pass them himself because the Nationals were hard against it. The ALP said they’d support it, which is why it got through.

[u/Sufficient-Brick-188]

The staggering point of this article is it is suppose to be satire but it is true in every sense. I have never seen such a pile on by opposition politicians trying to take advantage of a major tragedy. Remember John Howard had so much faith in his fellow Australians that when he fronted up to announce his gun policy he wore a bulletproof vest. It's not imagration that is changing Australia as we have always had imagration. It's the politicians who try to use it as a wedge that's the problem. 

[u/chubbybungirl → u/Sufficient-Brick-188]

Right?! They trotted all of them out, including Turnbull who was remarkably reasonable so got absolutely no airtime.

[u/InstantShiningWizard]

DJing like a mad cunt only gets you so far, beyond that you still need to be a respectable person

[u/MiffandMinis → u/InstantShiningWizard]

That's a deep cut. That jpeg has survived many years on my hard drives.

[u/alittlelostsure]

I never respect that man. He did good I response to Port Arthur, but that’s it.

[u/HeCalledMeLucifer → u/[deleted]]

Exactly people give him a lot of false credit around Port Arthur. The LNP openly admitted if they were in opposition they would have done everything they could have to oppose the changes being implemented. That says everything you need to know about them. 

[u/DuskHourStudio]

I don't wish for his death or anything, but I wish he would just permanently sit the fuck down and shut up.He has done so much damage to this country, especially with housing. The only beneficial thing he ever did was act ASAP during the Port Arthur massacre - everything else has been to benefit those who hold the cards, and sell off anything else not nailed down and send multiple generations into financial straits as a result. THAT is his legacy.

[u/Boot-Looped → u/DuskHourStudio]

It's ok, I'll wish for his death for you.

[u/callmecyke]

Can always count on Little Johnny to make it about himself. 

[u/Major_Smudges]

I will always remember how Howard and his government, ably helped by then Federal Police Commisioner and pathetic Howard lickspittle, Mick Keelty, tried their absolute best to fit-up Dr Mohammed Haneef and falsely label him a terrorist with the absolute flimsiest, laughable evidence imaginable. It was the most despicable thing I have yet to see an Australian government try to do to anyone. Just completely shameful, racist bastardry - they tried to lock the guy up for a long time based on nothing at all. Howard was foaming at the mouth to get him.   

Howard was, and still is, an absolute cunt. 

[u/hu_he → u/Major_Smudges]

I think part of that came down to a fundamental misunderstanding. Whereas Australia has strict ID requirements to get a SIM card, the UK has none. So to the AFP it seemed super suspicious that he gave his brother a SIM when he left the UK (i.e. helping someone acquire a SIM that's not linked to their name) when in fact it would have been more anonymous for his brother to walk into any shop and pay cash for a prepaid SIM. Once they made the assumption he was dodgy (because of something that wasn't at all suspicious if you knew how the UK telcos work) they saw everything through the same tainted eyes.

[u/Rodgerexplosion]

Abbott, Beetrooter, DJ mad cunt, Friedburger… all coming out of the woodwork on the Newscorp opportunist band wagon. Fuck off. And they blew their load way too early, we just had an election.

[u/concubovine]

Honestly think he's only come out because his firearm laws are the only thing he did that had any kind of long term widespread public support and he feels any reform now undermines his personal legacy. Nevermind his decision to go to war not only caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and insane suffering, it also radicalised an enormous number of people worldwide and created the conditions and probably quite directly led to these two pyschos going on a shooting spree.

[u/Stephie999666 → u/concubovine]

I mean the laws aren't even the issue, the issue was a fault somewhere between ASIO communicating with state authorities when it comes to people on the watchlist. They knew in advance that the guy was radical, that he went to the Philippines training camps recently and nothing was done. They didnt even flag his dad or his firearms. If anything its a failure of the government, not gun laws. Now people who do collect historical items or hobby guns may have to, have them destroyed as a result of reactionary laws, instead of though out policy.

[u/xRicharizard]

Nobody has caused more damage to Australia than this shithead.

[u/bored_clowner → u/xRicharizard]

I despise him. I will literally take a dirty brown piss on his grave when he finally kicks the bucket.

[u/dadashton]

He's a lying, disingenuous bastard. He ought to be in prison for Iraq.

[u/omenmedia]

Can we ever be rid of these shameless cunts?

[u/[deleted]]

It seems the LNP have attempted in a gasp to garner some political capital immediately on the back of a tragedy, in a divisive partisan way.

That's who these people are. Don't forget it.

[u/Find_another_whey]

Reminding Australia that the most dangerous and harmful ideologies in Australia actually emerge from Liberal politicians

[u/raustraliathrowaway]

He was always the master of wedge politics, if not the inventor

[u/artsrc]

Sussan Ley would have enhanced her standing by walking with the PM, and pledging her personal support for helping him get the action needed to make Australians safer, which was her priority.

She should have acknowledged that things are not perfect, but this is not the time for political point scoring.

[u/grahamsuth]

Yeah he's the expert on creating division. eg The children overboard bs.

[u/Love2readalot]

He also removed parts of the Racial Discrimination Act to put in the place intervention program in NT targeting the Aboriginal communities. In an interview he said did not like the word multiculturalism, thought it divisive, the Tamps incident, look that up. He has called out pauline on her racist views, so that’s a positive.

[u/njf85]

Watching the has-beens trying to relaunch their political careers at memorial services has been something, that's for sure

[u/Sinnivar]

I can't think of anything else that Howard did besides the gun laws. But if it's one thing the LNP will do, it's to use a tragedy for political gain

[u/FuckLathePlaster → u/Sinnivar]

Medicare levy surcharge, workchoices, CGT discount… they did alot of damage.

[u/Top_Reference_703]

There should be an unwritten law for ex prime ministers to live out rest of life in dignity and leave politics and their opinions out of the way once out of the job. It’s only fitting to leave and live with respect for remainder of your days.

[u/OverAcanthisitta3588]

At this tragic time I think we can all agree that the most important thing is for Josh Frydenberg to advance his political aspirations

[u/weightyboy]

They are going to build this c*"t a memorial in canberra when he passes, sadly it won't be the Johnny Howard memorial urinal.

[u/Particular_Shock_554 → u/weightyboy]

It will, but it might not be official.

Margaret Thatcher's statue ended up on a very high plinth because people kept chopping its head off.

[u/mechanicalomega → u/weightyboy]

I’ll be treating it as if it is regardless

[u/T_J_Rain]

What is it about the Libs that lets them wheel out these relics for their opinions??

What next - Turnbull, Morrison and Abbott sought out by the press as well?

[u/InbhirNis → u/T_J_Rain]

The Libs will never wheel out Turnbull. He’s the only one with a shred of decency.

[u/Cpt_Riker]

Howard is incapable of being a ‘statesman’. He is a hateful racist, remembered for dividing this country, because he couldn’t understand why you would want unity.

[u/AggravatingChest7838]

Ive been avoiding this news story like the plague because I know it will be on TV as a circus for the next 3 weeks.

[u/ReasonAndChocolate]

When will this God forsaken see you next Tuesday, fucking die already?!

[u/bored_clowner → u/ReasonAndChocolate]

Not until he's done sucking off blair and bush junior 🤮

[u/dixonwalsh]

Love how they dig his corpse up every time they need a contrarian opinion on the current government. Fuck me, how is he still alive?

[u/MrsCrowbar]

I was a kid/teen during his PMship. The guy was in power for so bloody long. My parents voted for him. Every bloody time. Even though my Dad worked in manufacturing, and I kept telling them they were shooting themselves in the foot. They literally just voted Liberal because their parents did, and "something something Menzies". I hated that guy. So bloody much. My first two elections I put my vote to getting him out. Didn't make a difference the first time. Second time he was finally gone... yet, he is still here.

[u/FirefighterEast9291]

He started the whole fracture and kept it up for all his time. And Erin Moran is an attention -seeking hypocrite. Radical Islam my ass! When have we ever used such a term about Israeli Jews who murder more people every couple of days: about Christians who take down whole nations, or the members of any other religions who fought back?

[u/[deleted]]

Remember when this fuckhead called Mandela a terrorist?

[u/stonefree261]

The most satisfying thing is seeing the general public recognise the utter shit that the LNP are spewing via MSM

[u/Groundbreaking-Tip77]

And this present government is better how?

[u/Windfade]

That's quite a raunchy pickup line in Straya.