scare-mongering about asylum seekers and a raft of vote-buying middle-class welfare initiatives
she seems to be concerned about the welfare of the low-payed and disadvantaged..
Candide,
Those words constitute some of the most pi$$-poor, pathetic attempts to invoke a pro labor voting suggestion. Well, I suppose the combination of lack of integrity plus desperation is now reaching into the pits of new lows.
As to which Prime Minister has left Australia better off ? well, it is Howard or have you forgotten what he inherited from the others. An even better question would be as to how much Howard left in the coffers for Rudd & how much of it is still there ?

JohnBennetts, Candide, you people are disgusting.

Tell me one lefty who had the guts of Howard. He put up his hard policies, then went to the people on them.

GST anyone. That is one Keating even squibed while in power. God how much in debt would we be after this fool Swan, if that GST money weren't propping him up.

Of course they were never game to put up their privatisation plans, or their carbon tax plans, or anything that was not so palatable.

After giving us such a bunch of gutless incompetents, you have the hide to belittle the one who got us out of the sh1t of their making.

Yep, disgusting is a bit soft to describe you lot.

Yep, disgusting is a bit soft to describe you lot.
Hasbeen,
the true believers must be wondering what hit them ?

Howard couldn't even win his own seat of Bennelong in the end....Workchoices was his undoing.

He wasn't a great Prime Minister at all.
He was far too conservative, and was in love with that other conservative good ol' boy Bush!

His treasurer Peter Costello would have been a better choice for the party to win an election.

.Workchoices was his undoing.
Suseonline,
Desperately wrong again. It was the hangers-on sector of the Labor party which deliberately portrayed work choices as not as good as it actually was to the vulnerable that did the undoing. If we any any king of integrity police 90% of the Labor Party would be locked away.

Suse,

Howard, 11 years, GST and taxation reform, broke the Waterside Workers strike (and don't tell me rorting wasn't rife on the waterfront), budget surpluses and Sovereign Fund (partly to bolster future higher education funding), and IR reform which did take some power back from the trade unions, boost employment and improve employment flexibility (to no-one's real disadvantage). And don't forget East Timor.

Iraq and Afghanistan - accident of timing, 9/11, (a bit like the GFC). A tough one - mixture of human rights (and possibly, terrorism) concerns, plus of loyalty to one's staunch allies (US, UK, etc) and the UN. (Don't forget WWII and the Battle of the Coral Sea.)
G W Bush - accident of timing, and of weird US political system - but friend, head of most powerful nation on Earth, and deserving of respect accordingly. Howard may have overdone the diplomacy, but kept our forces commitment conservative.

Comparison. Hawke broke the pilots' strike - but ended up seeing Ansett go down - a good trade unionist, but did introduce necessary Prices and Wages Freeze, and he and Keating floated the A$. Keating - 'the recession we had to have', and 'banana republic'. Not too complimentary (or useful). Keating lost pursuing the abolition of negative gearing - step, or straw, too far? All the same, fizzle.

Boats, Tampa, immigration detention - product of overseas upheavals (admittedly including Iraq, Afghanistan, but not solely). No joy for anyone in addressing this problem.

Agreed that Howard should have given Costello a chance. He overstayed his welcome, his final appeals to the electorate on economic responsibility and reform did not 'take', he was held to account for refusing to sign Kyota, and for refusing to apologize to the Stolen Generations, and fell on his sword for not acknowledging that WorkChoices needed some revision. 'Kevin 07' took good advantage of each and every 'chink', and the rest is history.

Still, 11 fairly good years, worthy of due recognition. Since, not much to write home about, and the saga continues.