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A Sense of Balance
On how our sense of balance has defined us as a nation and will safeguard our future.
In the years that John Howard served in the national parliament he came to understand the special character of Australia; to appreciate its strengths and weaknesses; and most importantly to respect the sense of balance in the formulation of public policy that has long defined us as a nation and made Australia an attractive destination for people from across the world.
In this book he explores this balance, its foundations and its future. Written against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as some of the more contested political events of recent years - the election of Donald Trump, the Brexit vote, the rise of China, and, within our own country, a carousel of six prime ministers in eleven years - these reflections touch on how Australia has responded to pressure over the last decade or so. Commentary on these subjects from politicians, opinion writers and social media can sometimes seem shrill and divisive. Australia's 25th and second longest serving prime minister has faith that no matter what challenges and extremes threaten to upset our sense of balance, the country's institutions and people will remain robust into the foreseeable future.
PRAISE
'John Howard's ongoing and important contribution to this country continues with his latest laser sharp book, A Sense of Balance. No former leader understands the Australian character better than our 25th Prime Minister' Janet Albrechtsen, columnist
In the years that John Howard served in the national parliament he came to understand the special character of Australia; to appreciate its strengths and weaknesses; and most importantly to respect the sense of balance in the formulation of public policy that has long defined us as a nation and made Australia an attractive destination for people from across the world.
In this book he explores this balance, its foundations and its future. Written against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as some of the more contested political events of recent years - the election of Donald Trump, the Brexit vote, the rise of China, and, within our own country, a carousel of six prime ministers in eleven years - these reflections touch on how Australia has responded to pressure over the last decade or so. Commentary on these subjects from politicians, opinion writers and social media can sometimes seem shrill and divisive. Australia's 25th and second longest serving prime minister has faith that no matter what challenges and extremes threaten to upset our sense of balance, the country's institutions and people will remain robust into the foreseeable future.
PRAISE
'John Howard's ongoing and important contribution to this country continues with his latest laser sharp book, A Sense of Balance. No former leader understands the Australian character better than our 25th Prime Minister' Janet Albrechtsen, columnist
301 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 17, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 12, 2024
3.5/5
Of course John Howard would call his recent collection of essays 'A Sense of Balance.'
He discusses a range of things including the need for balance within political parties and society (hence the title), bipartisanship, the role of the monarchy, home-ownership, China, and the 2022 election. I enjoy the way he writes and consider him an articulate and effective communicator. However, I do think he moulds the narrative to put his legacy in the most positive light. A key example is how he neatly avoids admitting the negative consequences that halving the capital gains tax has had on housing affordability. Although I was pleasantly surprised to see him consider the cost of houses a huge issue for first home buyers. I was also interested to read his critique of the Liberals for being weak on policy at the 2022 election. That said, he considers that the appropriate path for them to take would have been to commit to less fossil fuel reductions. Which is... ... interesting.
Something else that surprised me, in a good way, was his strong condemnation of the pervasiveness of the career politician. What especially irks him is the extreme factionalism of the major parties and he decries how there are often minimal candidates who contend for preselection because of this. I'm glad such a political beast shares this view with me, although it is a bit hard to not consider Howard himself a career politician.
One thing that really began to bother me was the way he would reference other essays within essays. This was a waste of words and weakened the succintness of his arguments. There was a second weakness to this collection too. Essays should be analytical or interpretive in nature, but many times these simply slipped into summaries of events or political situations.
All in all an easy read that had more insight than I expected, but not quite enough to reach the 4 star mark. My copy had a reasonably large font and spacing so one can easily get through it in a couple of days.
Of course John Howard would call his recent collection of essays 'A Sense of Balance.'
He discusses a range of things including the need for balance within political parties and society (hence the title), bipartisanship, the role of the monarchy, home-ownership, China, and the 2022 election. I enjoy the way he writes and consider him an articulate and effective communicator. However, I do think he moulds the narrative to put his legacy in the most positive light. A key example is how he neatly avoids admitting the negative consequences that halving the capital gains tax has had on housing affordability. Although I was pleasantly surprised to see him consider the cost of houses a huge issue for first home buyers. I was also interested to read his critique of the Liberals for being weak on policy at the 2022 election. That said, he considers that the appropriate path for them to take would have been to commit to less fossil fuel reductions. Which is... ... interesting.
Something else that surprised me, in a good way, was his strong condemnation of the pervasiveness of the career politician. What especially irks him is the extreme factionalism of the major parties and he decries how there are often minimal candidates who contend for preselection because of this. I'm glad such a political beast shares this view with me, although it is a bit hard to not consider Howard himself a career politician.
One thing that really began to bother me was the way he would reference other essays within essays. This was a waste of words and weakened the succintness of his arguments. There was a second weakness to this collection too. Essays should be analytical or interpretive in nature, but many times these simply slipped into summaries of events or political situations.
All in all an easy read that had more insight than I expected, but not quite enough to reach the 4 star mark. My copy had a reasonably large font and spacing so one can easily get through it in a couple of days.
October 1, 2025
Fairly light and easy to read, this book is like having a cozy fireside chat with John Howard whilst he reflects on some of the big issues that came up in his time in politics, and especially during his time as Prime Minister. Some of the issues discussed are (from Howard’s time as treasurer and earlier) the dismissal of the Whitlam government and the operation of the Australian Constitution, economic reform in the 1980s and 1990s, the legacy of the Menzies era and Howard’s take on how that influenced him in his time as treasurer and Prime Minister and (from Howard’s time as PM) the continuing economic and labour reforms, the rise of China and the relationship with Australia, September 11 and the wars that followed, and the republic/monarchy debate.
John Howard also reflects on the Prime Ministers who followed him and the state of politics in Australia today.
I’m not the biggest fan of John Howard, but I found this book enjoyable and fairly easy to read. It won’t take long to read.
Howard’s overall thesis is that things work well in Australia when everyone makes reasonable compromises to achieve a sense of balance in the way Australia is governed, and further that the institutions underpinning the system, like the Constitution and the hybrid-Westminster system of Parliament, all work to achieve the right balance to ensure that Australia is governed in a stable and sensible way.
Howard also reflects on some current issues in Australian politics.
Howard offers some sensible and balanced comments about the (unfortunate) state of the climate change response and debate in Australia and ultimately makes a strong pro nuclear case.
I was a bit disappointed with Howard’s comments about the housing supply and price crisis. He only acknowledges in a very circumspect way that some of his own policies might have heavily contributed to the current crisis, and doesn’t offer any real solution other than to say that state governments should continue rezoning land to increase urban sprawl (he actually says that), and that zoning and planning restrictions need to be loosened so that it’s easier for development to take place. Nothing more than a couple of paragraphs when someone of his stature could surely have thought of something more visionary, like rejigging federal government payments to the states on the basis that the states can only have the money if additional family-appropriate housing is built. It’s also disappointing to see that the only political solution in Australia is the increase of urban sprawl and it really shows the complete lack of imagination (from both sides) on this terrible problem. Howard’s overall position is that it’s unfortunate but not much can be done about it! Something can be done about it, it’s just that no one has the guts to actually reduce house prices. It could be achieved multiple ways but no one in power actually wants to do it.
Howard also makes no mention at all of his disastrous decision to radically increase immigration levels, which contributed to the housing crisis and many other problems—and which is ongoing to this day.
Howard also offers his views about why the Liberal Party lost the 2022 election and what the future of the Party should look like to ensure that it can win government again and become successful in future. Comments made in this section are quite brief and not particularly insightful and, as might be expected from the title of the book, comes down the prescription that the Liberal Party is best when it remains a “broad church“ and balances the twin philosophies of classical liberalism and conservativism that underpin the party. Howard’s take on this is of course to be socially conservative but economically liberal (in the sense of laissez faire not of American liberalism) but I’m not sure this holds today. Regan and Thatcher and Howard and Blair were of their time and the economics are different today. Howard doesn’t reflect on the supply chain issues that have been caused by free trade and economic liberalisation, and what this has meant for Australian manufacturing and domestic industry. I think there is space in politics, and especially in the Liberal Party for a “Red Tory” position, which is (within sensible bounds) socially conservative (including conserving the environment), and also economically a bit more left-wing (as was the party that Robert Menzies founded, as Howard acknowledges; though Howard puts his economic differences down to changing times rather than a fundamental difference of philosophy with Menzies—I’m not so sure).
Howard also gives a very succinct and lucid defence of our current constitutional arrangements, and why we should retain the monarchy. Put simply, we have the best system of government in the world, and why would you want to change it? Howard also doubts (as I do) that it is possible to make minimalist change to the constitutional system. You can’t simply replace the Governor-General with a president because the conduct of the Governor-General is governed by unwritten rules and obligations to the office of the monarch which function as a brake on the power of the Governor-General; a president would not be restrained by any such unwritten rules of convention which limit his or her power. The other alternative is to go for a fully presidential system of government like the French or the USA’s system but Howard doubts that Australians would be interested in doing that.
Overall: recommended. Howard is a man of substance especially when compared to most of the PMs who followed him, and his comments and reflections hold some value. It’s also an easy book to read which will only take a couple of evenings to finish.
John Howard also reflects on the Prime Ministers who followed him and the state of politics in Australia today.
I’m not the biggest fan of John Howard, but I found this book enjoyable and fairly easy to read. It won’t take long to read.
Howard’s overall thesis is that things work well in Australia when everyone makes reasonable compromises to achieve a sense of balance in the way Australia is governed, and further that the institutions underpinning the system, like the Constitution and the hybrid-Westminster system of Parliament, all work to achieve the right balance to ensure that Australia is governed in a stable and sensible way.
Howard also reflects on some current issues in Australian politics.
Howard offers some sensible and balanced comments about the (unfortunate) state of the climate change response and debate in Australia and ultimately makes a strong pro nuclear case.
I was a bit disappointed with Howard’s comments about the housing supply and price crisis. He only acknowledges in a very circumspect way that some of his own policies might have heavily contributed to the current crisis, and doesn’t offer any real solution other than to say that state governments should continue rezoning land to increase urban sprawl (he actually says that), and that zoning and planning restrictions need to be loosened so that it’s easier for development to take place. Nothing more than a couple of paragraphs when someone of his stature could surely have thought of something more visionary, like rejigging federal government payments to the states on the basis that the states can only have the money if additional family-appropriate housing is built. It’s also disappointing to see that the only political solution in Australia is the increase of urban sprawl and it really shows the complete lack of imagination (from both sides) on this terrible problem. Howard’s overall position is that it’s unfortunate but not much can be done about it! Something can be done about it, it’s just that no one has the guts to actually reduce house prices. It could be achieved multiple ways but no one in power actually wants to do it.
Howard also makes no mention at all of his disastrous decision to radically increase immigration levels, which contributed to the housing crisis and many other problems—and which is ongoing to this day.
Howard also offers his views about why the Liberal Party lost the 2022 election and what the future of the Party should look like to ensure that it can win government again and become successful in future. Comments made in this section are quite brief and not particularly insightful and, as might be expected from the title of the book, comes down the prescription that the Liberal Party is best when it remains a “broad church“ and balances the twin philosophies of classical liberalism and conservativism that underpin the party. Howard’s take on this is of course to be socially conservative but economically liberal (in the sense of laissez faire not of American liberalism) but I’m not sure this holds today. Regan and Thatcher and Howard and Blair were of their time and the economics are different today. Howard doesn’t reflect on the supply chain issues that have been caused by free trade and economic liberalisation, and what this has meant for Australian manufacturing and domestic industry. I think there is space in politics, and especially in the Liberal Party for a “Red Tory” position, which is (within sensible bounds) socially conservative (including conserving the environment), and also economically a bit more left-wing (as was the party that Robert Menzies founded, as Howard acknowledges; though Howard puts his economic differences down to changing times rather than a fundamental difference of philosophy with Menzies—I’m not so sure).
Howard also gives a very succinct and lucid defence of our current constitutional arrangements, and why we should retain the monarchy. Put simply, we have the best system of government in the world, and why would you want to change it? Howard also doubts (as I do) that it is possible to make minimalist change to the constitutional system. You can’t simply replace the Governor-General with a president because the conduct of the Governor-General is governed by unwritten rules and obligations to the office of the monarch which function as a brake on the power of the Governor-General; a president would not be restrained by any such unwritten rules of convention which limit his or her power. The other alternative is to go for a fully presidential system of government like the French or the USA’s system but Howard doubts that Australians would be interested in doing that.
Overall: recommended. Howard is a man of substance especially when compared to most of the PMs who followed him, and his comments and reflections hold some value. It’s also an easy book to read which will only take a couple of evenings to finish.
February 4, 2023
I confess that I voted for John Howard numerous times and meeting him was one of the highlights of my life at the time. Fast forward 20 years and I no longer agree with him on many issues, but I still find him extremely articulate.
This book was like sitting down with someone to discuss political issues in an intelligent and deep way, but then them drawing conclusions that seem to come from nothing they’ve just talked about.
I’ve given it 3 stars not because of the arguments formed, but because it was actually really well written.
Probably not for everyone, but I found it quite engaging, even if I felt like throwing the book across the room sometimes!
This book was like sitting down with someone to discuss political issues in an intelligent and deep way, but then them drawing conclusions that seem to come from nothing they’ve just talked about.
I’ve given it 3 stars not because of the arguments formed, but because it was actually really well written.
Probably not for everyone, but I found it quite engaging, even if I felt like throwing the book across the room sometimes!
Read
May 13, 2025a timely read. i’m not going to give this book a rating. i was the one who chose to read something i know i don’t agree with (for educational purposes) so i don’t think it’s fair to give a poor rating because it’s not my opinion. objectively for a political memoir though i can say i enjoyed the essay style and covering 30 years of political events in 285 pages was actually articulated pretty well
however, the arguments are so outdated and the exact reason why this should not be anybody’s guiding view in this day and age. just so many other moments where i was like i cannot believe this is still the current rhetoric. we can really only hope Sussan has a different mentor 🙏🏻
however, the arguments are so outdated and the exact reason why this should not be anybody’s guiding view in this day and age. just so many other moments where i was like i cannot believe this is still the current rhetoric. we can really only hope Sussan has a different mentor 🙏🏻
February 8, 2025
A balanced book!
It makes me incredibly grateful to live in this country. John Howard masterfully explains the balance and safeguard mechanisms within our political system and culture, with endless political stories that my generation would not be aware of yet have shaped our country.
It makes me incredibly grateful to live in this country. John Howard masterfully explains the balance and safeguard mechanisms within our political system and culture, with endless political stories that my generation would not be aware of yet have shaped our country.
August 27, 2022
Imagine taking a first-year intro to Australian politics class and having a lecturer who is excellent at teaching the fundamentals but comes up with conclusions supposedly based on sound theory that are absolutely bonkers.
Imagine also that the lecturer is still fighting the political battles of the second half of the 20th century. Someone needs to tell John that the debates about Australia's economic and constitutional orthodoxy have been won already, by his side no less.
Although the above, Howard's political intelligence and skill can not be doubted though I wish he could pick more effective battles to fight.
Imagine also that the lecturer is still fighting the political battles of the second half of the 20th century. Someone needs to tell John that the debates about Australia's economic and constitutional orthodoxy have been won already, by his side no less.
Although the above, Howard's political intelligence and skill can not be doubted though I wish he could pick more effective battles to fight.
September 6, 2025
Typical Howard uses dodgy interest rate figures to say that housing affordability was no different for the boomers.......
January 25, 2023
4.5 stars
A very intelligent man who has written an engaging series of essays defining his thoughts on Australia. Very well-written, thoughtful, knowledgeable and it shows he has an excellent grasp of grammar.
His mind is sharp as a tack and he is fully aware of the current political climate and showcases his vast historical political knowledge as well.
A very intelligent man who has written an engaging series of essays defining his thoughts on Australia. Very well-written, thoughtful, knowledgeable and it shows he has an excellent grasp of grammar.
His mind is sharp as a tack and he is fully aware of the current political climate and showcases his vast historical political knowledge as well.
January 26, 2024
A compact collection of a dozen topical essays about the state of the Australian nation from an elder statesman, the nation’s second longest serving leader.
Under his stewardship, I believe the country moved forward on just about every valid metric.
All of his politics were not popular, nor necessarily the best, but he led as a representative of a more united populace. In this novel, the former PM challenges the reader, partly with some cards close to chest, to discuss where to from here. The art of constructive, courteous debate has been eradicated by pile ons and cancelling.
In this way, this is a throwback to learned discussion to think, to do, to improve.
Can be read as individual essays.
Under his stewardship, I believe the country moved forward on just about every valid metric.
All of his politics were not popular, nor necessarily the best, but he led as a representative of a more united populace. In this novel, the former PM challenges the reader, partly with some cards close to chest, to discuss where to from here. The art of constructive, courteous debate has been eradicated by pile ons and cancelling.
In this way, this is a throwback to learned discussion to think, to do, to improve.
Can be read as individual essays.
November 1, 2022
John Howard reflects on some of the big political issues of his career including the Republic issue, the great Australian dream (own your own home), September 11,China and the 2022 election.
I was no fan of John Howard nor his policies before I read this book and have not changed my mind but it is useful to hear his opinions on more recent leaders and their strengths and weaknesses and his justifications for his own mistakes and victories.
I was no fan of John Howard nor his policies before I read this book and have not changed my mind but it is useful to hear his opinions on more recent leaders and their strengths and weaknesses and his justifications for his own mistakes and victories.
October 20, 2022
More than half of the book is heavily in the trappings of political lingo. I could relate and only understand the latter chapters. This book is geared towards political students not your average reader.
February 23, 2023
A very readable, though slightly partisan, analysis on many major themes in Australian politics. Educational and thought provoking, and something that I will pick up and read again.
October 18, 2024
Well-written but so biased! Some interesting points on recent historical politics.
December 22, 2022
'Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.' Ronald Regan, 'Inaugural Address', 20 Jan, 1981
The Chinese have always claimed that Taiwan is 'part of China'. Since 1949 the Chinese has been to integrate Taiwan into the People's Republic of China. Beijing only ruled Taiwan for the brief period between 1945 to 1949. Formerly known as Formosa, was ceded to Japan as part of the peace settlement following the Sino-Japanese conflict of 1894 to 1895. Japanese sovereignty of Taiwan only ceased in 1945 on Japan's defeat at the end of WWII. After five years, a protracted Chinese civil war ended in defeat of the Nationalists, who retreated to Taiwan and established it as the new territory of Republic of China. This gives some context to communist China's historic claim.
The Chinese have always claimed that Taiwan is 'part of China'. Since 1949 the Chinese has been to integrate Taiwan into the People's Republic of China. Beijing only ruled Taiwan for the brief period between 1945 to 1949. Formerly known as Formosa, was ceded to Japan as part of the peace settlement following the Sino-Japanese conflict of 1894 to 1895. Japanese sovereignty of Taiwan only ceased in 1945 on Japan's defeat at the end of WWII. After five years, a protracted Chinese civil war ended in defeat of the Nationalists, who retreated to Taiwan and established it as the new territory of Republic of China. This gives some context to communist China's historic claim.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews