Howard Liberal-National Coalition — GST 2000, gun control, middle-class welfare, WorkChoices, Tampa

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Economic school: liberal-conservative supply-side + middle-class welfare expansion — "aspirational" fiscal model combining broad-based consumption tax (GST), income-tax cuts, family-payments expansion, and strong labour-market reform culminating in WorkChoices. Left- right axis: centre-right — pro-market on trade, tax, and labour but interventionist on family-assistance architecture, superannuation co-contribution, and immigration/border-control. Dated policies: National Firearms Agreement May 1996 after Port Arthur (28 April 1996, 35 killed); Reserve Bank Act inflation-targeting formalisation August 1996 (2-3% target over cycle); full Telstra privatisation phases (T1 November 1997 33%, T2 October 1999 16%, T3 November 2006 final 51%); GST introduced 1 July 2000 (10% broad-based consumption tax); Tampa incident 26 August 2001 and "Pacific Solution"; Family Tax Benefit A/B reform 2000; mandatory private health insurance rebate 1999; Iraq War commitment March 2003; WorkChoices Act 14 December 2005 (individual contracts, AWAs, no-disadvantage test removed); free trade agreements (SAFTA 2003, AUSFTA 2005, Thailand 2005). Popularity: four consecutive election wins; lost November 2007 election to Rudd (52.7% 2PP to ALP) with Howard losing his own Bennelong seat. Coherence: high through 1996-2004 with Costello stable partnership; WorkChoices over-reach after 2004 majority-Senate control.