The Lancet is not happy either or Report on Lancets condemnation of Howard govt
GW Bush is now considered the worst and most disliked president in US history. He systematically corrupted the integrity of the country's judicial, military, intelligence and social fabric. It is difficult to choose the worst of his three disastrous failures; handing victory to terrorists by his ignorant response to 9/11; squandering the unprecedented global support and goodwill following 9/11or, embarking on a personal crusade for glory by invading Iraq on knowingly false data.
John Howard likewise, in contrast to current Liberal legend, must be considered Australia's worst Prime Minister. His government pursued reflected glory by supporting [on falsified reasons] Bush's unthinking crusade, landing us in the middle of an intractable and vicious civil war. John Howard sat idly by as Australia surfed a decade long global economic and resources boom totally neglecting to invest in the basic requirements of infrastructure, education, health and technology. He has thoroughly wasted our prosperity and left us now to do desperate catch up. The Howard government has cynically claimed personal credit for the global economic boom and low global interest rates, as though we have any real influence over such things [it was in fact Hawke and Keating who put in the essential economic changes to enable us to benefit from global growth]. A search of past interest rates and the global economy clear shows Australia's economic fundamentals mostly depends on others. The Howard government's best idea in its eleven years was to keep surplus cash in a savings account called 'Future Fund' without actually investing in the future. They claim for themselves economic credentials for accumulating tax surpluses and not spending as though filling up a bank book with cash and donating to vested interests was a sensible thing. In the meantime infrastructure decayed, stagnated and modern requirements ignored. It is not difficult to over tax and keep that money, it does not require economic skills.
On the side of probity and transparency of government we have seen this government administer $300 million dollars of bribes to Saddam at a time of international sanctions, the demotion of our justice to the status of a toy of foreign policy as they played games with Hick's on behalf of GW Bush; lies and deceit over Tampa, Baby Over Board in order to evoke fear and sneak election victories. They have thought nothing of creating a 'climate of intolerance and fear' in order to progress anti-terror laws, restrictive immigration and the unsavoury imprisonment and treatment of refugees. They have abandoned public schools, been involved in a raft of distasteful and suspicious dealings throughout. This government has been expert at setting aside human rights, justice and fairness whenever necessary for electoral survival, promotion of xenophobic law, and creation of greater invasive powers for itself, in order support a now disgraced US president.
The Howard government treated the Australian people dishonestly and with disdain by forcing onto us a Dickensian Work Choices law. Without warning, without discussion, without mandate and, kept in total secret until after the election. They then spent $55 million trying to convince Australians that this was a good thing in the hope that by the next election people would forget how they were deceived.
Now Howard intends to again waste opportunity by paying faked lip service to Global Warming that is an irresponsible gamble with our future and our children's future. Many of the Howard government do not accept Global Warming and Climate Change and only begrudgingly make policy on it to satisfy the impatience of a more aware Australian public. They are quite willing to wait and see if our country and economy are destroyed before deciding to do anything meaningful about it.
Howard's legacy to Australia will be 11 years of wasted opportunity, blind Bush adulation, a deceitfully implemented Work Choices whose purpose can only be to ensure that all wages will one day be at the bare minimum. Full employment at near poverty wages cannot be something to be proud of. Let us not be fooled whilst in the midst of an economic boom, it only takes a small change in the economic winds for us to quickly realise that as workers our power to choose is zero. Thus treating with breath taking disrespect the Australian people on whose behalf John Howard should be working.
After eleven years of wasted economic and social opportunity all the Howard government has achieved is increased greed, intolerance and fear. Now we live in fear of 'Work Choices 2'.
John Howard has never been one of us or been with us; the secret of his success has been his ability to manipulate us. Most certainly on all grounds of comparison John Howard has been Australia's worst Prime Minister. Maybe it is fitting that his terms in office coincide with that of internationally disgraced President GW Bush.