The Wire

Next year will mark a decade of service by John Howard as Australia’s Prime Minister. In this time he has been called many things, but it may have surprised people when one academic said John Howard had emerged as “the most creative Liberal since Robert Menzies”. That was Professor Judith Brett in her book Australian Liberals and the Moral Middle Class. Professor Brett is a politics lecturer at La Trobe University and specialises in political culture –how everyday experiences affect political values. In her latest essay “Relaxed and Comfortable: The Liberal Party’s Australia” Professor Brett argues that this government has used the traditions of the Liberal Party, in combination with a strong leader, to further its success. Judith Brett spoke to Alma Mistry.