FORMER prime minister John Howard was in fine form when he launched his latest tome, a book about Sir Robert Menzies, at the Grand View Hotel this week.
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In the book, The Menzies Era, Mr Howard, Australia’s second-longest serving PM, pays tribute to the country’s longest serving prime minister.
Speaking exclusively to Redland City Bulletin, Mr Howard said he wrote the book out of admiration for the Liberal Party founder who served for 18 years, five months and 12 days.
He dismissed claims the Menzies era achieved very little and was nothing more than a conservative holding pattern.
“I wrote the book because I didn't want the left side of politics to be the only ones to write our history,” he said.
“The Menzies era was very exciting because a great deal happened,” he said listing the signing of a trade accord with Japan in 1957 along with ground-breaking forays into China and Australia's immigration policy.
He gave Immigration minister Scott Morrison the thumbs up but declined to comment on today's federal Government move to section women wearing the burqa in Parliament House.
"People in Australia should have the freedom to wear what they want," he said in deference to Bowman MP Andrew Laming who made a stand over the issue and invited Howard to Redlands.
Mr Howard also spoke briefly about the fledgling Liberal party's honeymoon period after the acrimonious 1955 Labor Party split and the rise of the Democratic Labor Party, which later held the balance of power in the senate.
He acknowledged the DLP’s former leader Tasmanian Senator George Cole, one of that era’s key players.
Mr Howard was surprised to learn the senator's two sons and grandchildren now lived in Redlands.
While at the dinner, Mr Howard also slammed the Palmer United Party for pushing for a senate inquiry into Queensland's Newman government, likening it to "blackmail".
He responded animatedly to Redland City mayor Karen Williams who pressed him on his thoughts on the senate inquiry into the state government, which could possibly jeopardise development projects at Redland city's two ferry terminals.
Mr Howard questioned the benefits of the state cooperating with the inquiry.
He also took the heat off WorkChoices deflecting the blame for his 2007 loss to the Rudd government on fickle voters tired with his Coalition.
But the majority of Mr Howard's dinner speech was praising the political nouse and oratory skills of Menzies.
The 707-page book also covers the recovery of the Labor Party under Gough Whitlam's leadership in the 1960s and the impact of the Vietnam War on Australian politics.
Mr Howard became defensive and coy when asked about writing a book on cricket and said he was yet to toy with the idea.
The former PM, who showed no signs of slowing down, graciously answered questions about how much he walked now he was not in Parliament and if he would make a literary comeback.
Source: Redland City Bulletin
