What did John Howard do for Australia?

Answer 1

John Howard atrophied workers rights and entitlements and sold off publicly owned assets to foreign interests to the detriment of Australians.

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John Howard, like any country's leader, made mistakes. But in reference to the above, there were two sides.

The purpose of the Australian Workplace Agreement and Workchoices policies were to even up the balance between the power held by the workers, who were backed by the unions, and the employers, who did not have as many rights. The power wielded by the workers limited how some businesses were free to run. Under John Howard, unions were more restricted in their powers. Hence, workers were more restricted too. It is unfortunate though, that, in some cases, employers misused their newfound rights.

John Howard did indeed sell off public assets, including Telstra. Big mistake. But at the same time, his economic policies put Australia in a very strong position economically. Unfortunately, the current government appears to have blown away the surplus Howard accrued, and is now sending the country that was so strong under Howard into debt. Rather like Anna Bligh in Queensland, who is also selling off everything she can find to foreign owned interests, plunging the state into debt.

Other things John Howard did:

He helped to promote a stronger Australian identity.

He took a solid stand against illegal refugees.

He reformed gun ownership laws.

No leader is perfect. But John Howard was a leader who left his country in a strong position economically.

Answer 2

done for democracy? Not a lot. He wasn't very good with Dr Haneef, with the refugees, with the ship Tampa, with detention centres, with Iraq. I could go on.

On the other hand, John Howard was a leader with vision. He understood that too many will take advantage of democracy when it is offered, pushing its limits to the point where these people begin to infringe on the democratic rights of others. His actions in the case of refugees and the ship Tampa, though drastic, certainly achieved his aim, which was to show that Australia would not be a pushover. It is interesting to note that, since Howard was succeeded by Kevin Rudd, with more lenient policies in this regard, Australia has seen an explosion in the number of illegal refugees, and the people-smuggling rackets operating overseas are the only ones profiting.