John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

In doing that I am entitled to point to the successes that this government has had. Looking through the transcripts of interviews that I gave during the last election, I have come across an interview I gave with Barry Cassidy of the Insiders program on 7 October 2004. This was two days out from the last election and it was probably the last interview I gave on a significant ABC program during that election campaign. The very last question I was asked was:

Prime Minister, if you are fortunate to win on Saturday, what do you think will have made the vital difference?

My answer was as follows—I have read through the answer and now, almost three years on, I would not alter a word of this answer because it remains as true today as it was on 7 October 2004:

The fact that the people trust us to better manage the Australian economy. That we have delivered periods of very low interest rates, of strong employment growth and great stability. And they better trust us to lead this country at a time of international peril as a result of the threat of terrorism.

I would not alter a word of that three years later.

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