John Howard OM AC was Australia’s 25th prime minister serving from March 1996 until December 2007, the second-longest prime ministerial term after Robert Menzies.  He entered parliament as the member for Bennelong in May 1974.

In November 1975 he took his first portfolio as minister for business and consumer affairs in the Coalition government of Malcolm Fraser and Doug Anthony. John Howard was then Treasurer from 1977 until the Fraser government lost office in 1983.

Leader of the opposition from 1985 to 1989 and again from 1995, John Howard became prime minister following the Liberal-National Party coalition’s victory in the 1996 federal election.

After leaving Federal parliament, Mr Howard published his memoirs, Lazarus Rising, and a work on Australian political history, The Menzies Years.