FORMER Prime Minister John Howard made a doorstop at the Kalamunda RSL on April 16 to support the Liberal effort to win Bullwinkel.

The event was ticketed as afternoon tea with Mr Howard, with catering prepared by the Kalamunda CWA and residents having a chance to mingle briefly with the former leader after speeches and questions concluded.

During his address to the Kalamunda RSL, Mr Howard thanked the residents who attended and said the poppies of the RSL hall reminded him of his own father.

“Now Bullwinkel is the seat named after a most courageous lady and it’s appropriate that we gather here at an RSL,” he said.

“Oh gee, this is a classic RSL.

“I gaze upon those red poppies of Flanders Fields, and it does remind me of my own late father who served Australia as a volunteer in the Great War, and I look around and see all these other wonderful tributes, and I pay a special tribute to the men and women, members and others in this audience who have put their lives on the line for the safety and security of this country.”

The Kalamunda CWA also prepared a tea towel, marking the organisation’s 100th anniversary, for Mr Howard to take back home for himself and his wife Janette.

Kalamunda CWA president Kathryn Kinang said although the group was apolitical, they were happy to cater to the visitors and a visiting former prime minister.

“We were asked to cater for 30, then it went to 60, and on Monday it was 100,” she said.

“But we’re the CWA and we can do anything – us women when we get together.”

Stoneville resident Mark Hancock said he enjoyed Mr Howard’s visit and felt the area appreciated his time as the national leader.

“Well, I just thought he was pretty full of wit in that he hasn’t lost any of his mental capacity and you can see by the reaction of the people there how greatly they appreciate what he did for us in the past,” he said.

Kalamunda resident Allan Larsen said he felt moved by the visit and appreciated Mr Howard’s reflections on the state of the nation.

“I found the exercise inspiring, and I’d never ever met John Howard in person, but it was interesting that he took all the trouble to come all the way (to Kalamunda) that he did and the advice that he gave and the comments that he made struck home and resonated with me,” he said.

“I’ve found that we’re in a bad state and we should be in a better position than we are.

“We are the lucky country, but we’re unlucky at the moment.”

Lesmurdie resident Susan Creelman said she appreciated that Mr Howard had a humble origin and hoped the challenges of house ownership can be solved by the incoming government.

“I like the way he showed that he’d come from humble beginnings and how all the things he’d learned from his father about being honest had prepared him, never thinking that he would one day be prime minister,” she said.

“I know there’s young people finding it hard to buy houses and I just hope that some of the things that happen in the parliament will sort that out.”