John Howard tells Anthony Albanese don’t ride on my coat-tails

John Howard describes Anthony Albanese’s attempt to identify with his record on reform as evidence of the Labor leader’s ‘lack of confidence in himself’.

John Howard says when he was elected to parliament in 1996 ‘people knew what he stood for’.

John Howard has described ­Anthony Albanese’s attempt to identify with his record on reform as evidence of the Labor leader’s “lack of confidence in himself” and a belief people don’t know what he stands for.

“I think it’s much more ­important that you tell people what you intend to do rather than cite other leaders,” the former Liberal prime minister said. “As much as I ­admired him, I didn’t seek to campaign by comparing myself with Sir Robert Menzies.

“You need to tell people what you stand for, not what others have done.

“This is equally true in relation to his reference to his Labor ­luminary predecessors (Bob Hawke and Paul Keating).”

Mr Howard was responding to a speech by Mr Albanese on Tuesday in which he said he would take his lead as prime minister “from Bob Hawke and his successor Paul Keating” as he ­rejected Labor’s big-spending, big-taxing policies at the 2019 election and sought to “rediscover the spirit of consensus”.

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Mr Albanese also cited Mr Howard’s record of reform ­between 1996 and 2007 by alluding to “a former Liberal prime minister” – Mr Howard – who often said reform was never finished. “I agree,” Mr Albanese said, adding: “But the current Liberal government has abandoned the field.”

Mr Howard said he found the reference to him surprising ­“because in referencing other leaders as to what you will do seems to suggest you may be concerned about what people think about you as a leader”.

Kevin Rudd defeated Mr Howard in 2007 after projecting himself as a moderate leader who would be a “fiscal conservative”.

On Wednesday, Mr Howard said: “Mr Albanese knows that he doesn’t stand for anything substantial and he seeks security in identifying with others.

“In invoking the names of others he is seeking to validate his claims and his identity.

“Has there been an election where someone has said don’t elect me, elect a lookalike? It’s not really a vote for him but someone else. It suggests a lack of confidence in himself. The real question for someone standing for election as prime minister is what you intend to do and how you ­intend to do it. You don’t cite others unless you are sensitive as to how people see you as a leader and what you intend to do.”

Howard was elected in 1996 on what was called a ‘small target’ campaign.

In 1996 Mr Howard was elected on what was called a “small target” campaign with “directional” speeches and few details, just as Mr Albanese has been pursuing a small target strategy for the past three years.

Mr Howard said that when he was elected in 1996 he had been in parliament for about the same time Mr Albanese has now and they were roughly the same age, but “people knew what I stood for on tax, industrial relations and foreign policy”.

The second-longest-serving Liberal prime minister also said he had demonstrated his support for tough policies from opposition and offered support to some of the toughest reforms of the Hawke-Keating era.

“As opposition leader and deputy leader I supported many reforms carried out by others and pursued those reforms that had not been carried out by others,” Mr Howard said.

“I very much gave bipartisan support from opposition to many reforms of the Hawke-Keating era which ensured they were successful reforms.”

Mr Howard said Scott Morrison had made one of the biggest security reforms in decades by agreeing to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.