John Howard

Template:StubJohn Howard is the current Prime Minister of Australia. He is the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. He has been Prime Minister since the Liberal Party won a majority in the House of Representatives at the general election in 1996, succeeding Paul Keating.

He is married to Jeanette Howard.

Recent political controversies

The resignation of Santo Santoro as Minister of Ageing following his public admission to share trading in breach of Mr. Howard's Ministerial Code of Conduct has resulted in adverse publicity to Mr. Howard. The week prior to the resignation Mr. Howard had publicly supported the former Minister when he had admitted to one breach of the code. Mr. Santoro admitted a week later that he had committed a further 72 breaches which resulted in the withdrawal of support from the Prime Minister. Bob Quinn, the former leader of the opposition in the Queensland State Parliament is the current front-runner for the Senate seat vacated by the sudden resignation of Mr Santoro.

The prosecution of David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay continues to be a political issue for Mr Howard.

The popularity of Mr, Howard is now at almost an all-time low, giving comfort to supporters of Mr. Kevin Rudd for the job following general elections which must be called before the end of 2007.