|
The Howard Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, which won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives at four successive elections. The Howard Government commenced following victory over the Keating Government at the 1996 federal election. It concluded with its defeat at the 2007 federal election by the Australian Labor Party, whose leader Kevin Rudd formed the Rudd Government. It was the second-longest government under a single Prime Minister, with the longest having been the second Menzies Government (1949–1966). Two senior ministers served in single roles for the duration of the Government; Peter Costello as Treasurer and Alexander Downer as Minister for Foreign Affairs. The leader of the National Party served as Deputy Prime Minister. Three men served in this capacity during the Howard government: Tim Fischer until July 1999, followed by John Anderson until July 2005 and then Mark Vaile. Decisions of the Executive were made either by the Cabinet or by the appropriate Minister. For the first three terms of government, and part of the fourth term, the Howard Government did not have control of the Senate. Legislation needed the support of the Opposition or minor parties for that legislation to be passed and become law. In the 2004 election, the Coalition won control of the Senate for all but the first nine months of its fourth term, and was able to pass legislation without the support of minor parties. The government also faced internal problems and tension, with the loss of numerous ministers during its first term due to the introduction of a ministerial code of conduct and ongoing leadership rivalry between John Howard and Peter Costello. Significant issues for the Howard government included implementation of substantial spending cuts in its first term of office and completely paying off government debt, gun control, the popularity of Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party, industrial relations reforms including the 1998 waterfront dispute and the introduction of WorkChoices, the 1999 Australian republic referendum, reconciliation and native title, the introduction of a goods and services tax, the 1999 Australian-led intervention in East Timor, managing asylum seekers, the “War on Terror”, the intervention in Northern Territory Indigenous communities, and an economy that experienced sustained growth throughout the government's term of office. ==Background== John Howard became Leader of the Opposition on 30 January 1995, replacing Alexander Downer, who resigned in his favour. Downer took the position of Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Peter Costello retained his position as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and Shadow Treasurer. Howard had had a long Parliamentary career, having entered Parliament in 1974 and served as Treasurer in the Fraser Government from 1977–83. He replaced Andrew Peacock as leader of the Opposition and in 1985 and challenged the Hawke Government at the 1987 Election, which saw Labor returned. Peacock successfully challenged and replaced Howard prior to the 1989 Election, which again returned Labor. The Liberals turned to two further leaders (John Hewson and Alexander Downer) before restoring Howard to the office to lead the Coalition against the Keating Labor Government. Long-serving Labor Treasurer Paul Keating had successfully challenged Bob Hawke for the leadership of the Labor Party and the prime ministership in 1991. Despite Australia suffering a deep recession in the early 1990s, Labor had increased its lead over the Coalition at the 1993 Election, which had seen the Liberals under Hewson offer an ambitious program of economic reform called Fightback!, which proposed a Goods and Services Tax as its centrepiece.〔(Before office - John Howard - Australia's PMs - Australia's Prime Ministers )〕 As opposition leader, Howard delivered a series of "headland speeches", which dealt broadly with the philosophy of government. In contrast to Keating, he used these addresses to speak in favour of traditional Australian institutions and symbols like the Australian flag and ANZAC legacy.〔(The Role of Government: John Howard Headland Speech (1995) | AustralianPolitics.com )〕 By the time of the 1996 Election, unemployment was high, but at a lower rate than at the previous 1993 Election, and interest rates were lower than they had been in 1990, but foreign debt had been growing.〔(In office - Paul Keating - Australia's PMs - Australia's Prime Ministers )〕 The Keating Government was projecting a small budget surplus. Following the election, an $8 billion deficit was confirmed. In his 18 February 1996 Policy Launch Speech delivered at the Ryde Civic Centre in Sydney, Howard emphasised that Labor had been in office a long time, and cited high inflation, a poor current account deficit and high national debt as evidence of bad economic management. He called for industrial relations reform to increase flexibility and improve productivity and offered tax relief for families. He proposed increased spending on environmental challenges, to be in part funded by the partial sale of telstra. He also promised to restore the prime minister's attendance at question time in parliament (which Keating had reduced in his final term).〔(【引用サイトリンク】archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516001620/http://explore.moadoph.gov.au/trails/211-australias-prime-ministers-landmark-speeches/list?page=2&per_page=50 )〕 The 1996 Election brought to an end 13 years of the Hawke-Keating Labor Government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Howard Government」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|