Howard's latest stumble on day of pain

Tuesday Jul 24 13:00 AEST

By ninemsn staff

John Howard has topped off a horror day by tripping over in front of the media while walking into a Perth radio station.

Mr Howard fell onto his hands and knees while walking up stairs outside the 6PR studios.

He quickly recovered his composure and sprang to his feet unassisted, before continuing into the radio station.

The stumble comes after another round of bad headlines for the coalition, which is once again riven by leadership tensions.

In the latest Newspoll, released today, Labor still holds a 10-point lead after a fortnight of bad publicity for the government.

Mr Howard suffered futher indignity this morning when he was accosted by Big Brother evictee Michelle, the least-popular contestant in the show's history.

On a dare from a local FM radio, Michelle followed Mr Howard on his morning walk, repeatedly shouting "I love you Johnny" as the Prime Minister attempted to cross the road.

In arguably better news for Mr Howard, today's Newspoll found that any last-ditch effort to replace him with Treasurer Peter Costello would not turn around the coalition's fortunes.

Nearly one in three voters say such a change would make them less likely to vote for the coalition, while 60 percent of those polled said it would make no difference to their vote.

Mr Howard ruled out stepping aside before the next election, despite the government's terrible poll results.

"I'll give you the honest answer — I'll continue in that job for as long as my party wants me to and it's in the party's best interests that I do so," he said.

Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said the disarray in Liberal ranks was behind the government's poor showing in opinion polls.

Mr Rudd, who is campaigning in Tasmania, said he was not concerned about Liberal Party tactics ahead of the election.

"I'm completely relaxed about what tactics the Liberals want to adopt," Mr Rudd told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"The truth is that they are in quite a degree of internal disarray at the moment.

"Remember, Mr Howard is the one who told the country that disunity is death in politics and there's a fair bit of disunity in the Liberal Party at the moment.

Leadership tensions re-emerged last week when excerpts from a new biography of Mr Howard were published in which Mr Costello made disparaging remarks about Mr Howard's record as treasurer.

with AAP

 

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Howard's appeal declining: Labor poll

Sunday Jul 22 10:34 AEST

John Howard's battlers are abandoning the prime minister, believing he is too old, desperate and sneaky, Labor polling indicates.

Labor party focus group polling suggests the prime minister's attraction may be declining, News Limited reported on Sunday.

The papers said the research, conducted just a few days ago, showed Mr Howard was losing the support in the blue-collar and mortgage-belt base the Liberals had built up over four consecutive election wins.

"The trend away from Howard among soft, formerly Liberal voters is marked and has grown since the last round of focus groups," the papers quote the secret polling as concluding.

The research nominates four key findings: Mr Howard should have retired, he's past his use-by date, he's desperate and he's not keeping up.

©AAP 2007

PM knew workers would be worse off: book

Saturday Jul 21 06:11 AEST

The federal government knew some workers would be worse off when it introduced the Work Choices legislation, a new biography of John Howard reveals.

Mr Howard wanted the laws bedded down politically well before this year's election and he dismissed making further changes because he was keen to have the legislation introduced and passed.

Two cabinet ministers who witnessed deliberations on Work Choices were present and the recent revelations are based on interviews with those ministers.

The revelations explain why Mr Howard would never pledge that no worker would be worse off under the changes, Fairfax newspapers report.

The biography shows why Mr Howard introduced a "fairness test" in May, when anecdotal evidence and perceptions emerged about some workers losing pay and conditions.

The then workplace relations minister, Kevin Andrews, was charged with drafting the legislation, the book reveals.

The model for reform was brought before cabinet on at least three occasions and Mr Andrews was sent away each time to improve the drafting.

"Even the final product raised concerns around the table that too many workers would be worse off, despite ministers ideologically supporting the legislation," the book says.

At this point Mr Howard pushed forward anyway, putting those concerns aside.