Do we like John Howard?
Our score: 4 out of 10. Real public good on guns, but his own marriage ban, his votes and a disputed 2001 claim keep him mid-table.
John Howard is the old Liberal warhorse, the member for Bennelong who ran the country through the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. Most arguments about him are about policy, not private behaviour, so this one is a read of his record rather than a goss session. I found no court cases against him in what I read.
The good bit first. After Port Arthur he pushed national gun laws that outlawed semi-automatic rifles and shotguns and brought in strict licensing, and the government bought back more than half a million guns. It meant a fight with the Nationals and rural gun owners (Tim Fischer had an effigy of himself burned), and Howard said the political risk was worth taking. That is a politician spending capital on something that mattered.
The 2001 children overboard story is the messy one. The government won that election on a hardline stance on boat arrivals, justified partly by a claim children had been thrown overboard. Former defence adviser Mike Scrafton later said he told Howard on 7 November 2001 there was no evidence for it. A Senate committee found him credible and said the evidence implied Howard misled the public; Howard has insisted he was never told it was false.
On the harm check, the big one is marriage. His government legislated the 2004 man-and-woman definition, and in January 2025 he said it was the right decision and “The idea we did that to prejudice debate is nonsense.” He voted against in the 2017 postal survey, saying “I voted against it, but I lost.” He also opposed the 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations, calling apologising for what other generations did meaningless.
The voting record backs the pattern. They Vote For You has him consistently voting for regional processing of asylum seekers, and against closing the Nauru and Manus centres, against stem cell research and against increasing the availability of abortion drugs. Fair warning: it only covers 43 of 288 possible votes, and he never crossed the floor against his own party. I couldn’t pin a dated source on climate policy, so I haven’t judged him on it.
The recent thing is the Menzies stoush. Labor’s Pat Conroy called Menzies a “Nazi appeaser” at the National Press Club; the Coalition tried and failed to censure him, and Howard fired back. Former Home Affairs head Mike Pezzullo said the label was too simplistic. Back in 2017 Howard also told SBS Australia could trust Trump as an alliance partner, though not to always do what we want.