Politics by Anna Caldwell Premium Content  Former prime minister John Howard has sounded an alarm about the rise of career politicians, revealing he is concerned particularly about state parliaments being filled with representatives who have had no prior life or work experience. On the 25th anniversary of his stunning 1996 federal election victory, Mr Howard said the issue of life experience continued to concern him, pointing back to an era when cabinets included farmers and labourers who had "shorn a few sheep, fixed a few lights or built a few houses". But Australia's second-longest serving prime minister holds an overall positive view of Australia and its leaders, saying "there's no country in the world of comparable character, composition, standard of living, culture ⦠that has done better than Australia at handling the pandemic".