John Howard has denied that the Liberal Party is suffering from “desperation” in the lead up to this month’s Canning by-election.
The former Prime Minister joined the Liberal’s candidate Andrew Hastie in Mandurah on Thursday, where he told reporters that he was a “compulsive campaigner”.
“I happened to be coming over to Western Australia and I couldn't resist offering myself to help,” he said.
“It's really got nothing to do with desperation. I'm always happy to help Tony Abbott."
Describing the Prime Minister as his “good friend”, Mr Howard said Mr Abbott would be leading the party to the next election.
He was confronted by a lone heckler, who asked if he would be accompanying Mr Abbott to “the Hague for human rights abuses”.
Mr Howard also used the appearance to push for support on the China Free Trade Agreement.
He said that “the Chinese, if we muck around, will walk away”.
“If people want to use this by election to send a message, perhaps they should use it to send a message to Bill Shorten, to stop obstructing the Free Trade Agreement with China,” he said.
“It is absolutely amazing that Labor leaders, left right and centre are falling over themselves to condemn Bill Shorten's position.”
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