The National Archives of Australia has tonight released Cabinet documents from 1975.
The documents cover the period of the Second Whitlam Government until its dismissal on November 11, 1975, and the First and Second Fraser Governments from November 11 and December 22. [Read more...]
Economic reform “must, and will, continue in 2006″, according to the Prime Minister, John Howard, in his New Year’s Message.
Howard said that “stable and happy family life is crucial to Australia’s future”. He said that “more flexibility under the new workplace arrangements will enable Australians an even greater capacity to balance work and family life”.
In a further sign of his determination to remain Prime Minister through to the next election, Howard reiterated his government’s record in economic management, claiming that the “reform process was maintained to the full in 2005″. [Read more...]
Kerry Packer was a “great Australian”, the Prime Minister, John Howard, said today.
Howard wasted no time in holding a media conference at Kirribilli House, Sydney, this morning, just hours after Channel 9 broke the news that the station’s owner, Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, had died, aged 68.
Packer was a loyal friend, the Prime Minister said.
Howard said the cliches “great Australian” and “larger than life character” were appropriate descriptions of Packer. He paid tribute to the media proprietor’s business acumen, citing Packer’s sale of the Nine network to Alan Bond in the 1980s. Packer subsequently bought Nine back at a fraction of the price. Bond went broke. Packer famously said “an Alan Bond only comes along once in life”. [Read more...]
The Governor-General, Michael Jeffery, has spent the Christmas period visiting Australian troops in the Middle East.
He joined troops of the Al Muthanna Task Group for Christmas lunch in southern Iraq, as well as visiting the Special Forces Task Group in Afghanistan, the AP-3 Orion crews, and HMAS Parramatta in the northern Persian Gulf.
The Australian forces are part of Operation Catalyst, described by the Department of Defence as “Australia’s contribution to the safety, reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq”. [Read more...]
It is one year since the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated areas of the sub-continent and South Asia.
Around a quarter of a million people lost their lives in one of the most deadly natural disasters of recent times.
This is the text of a media statement from the Prime Minister, John Howard.
FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI
I invite all Australians to join me today in marking the first anniversary of the terrible events of Boxing Day last year, when the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami caused loss of life and property on an almost unimaginable scale. [Read more...]
