John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian politician and the 25th Prime Minister of Australia. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies. He previously served as Treasurer in the government led by Malcolm Fraser from 1977–1983 and was Leader of the Liberal Party (thus also Leader of the Coalition Opposition) from 1985–1989 through the 1987 federal election against Bob Hawke. Elected again as Leader of the Opposition in 1995, Howard became the Prime Minister of Australia after defeating incumbent Paul Keating in the 1996 election. His government was re-elected in the 1998, 2001 and 2004 elections. Howard is running for a fifth term at the upcoming 2007 election and will face the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd.