‘Hello it’s John Howard calling’: former PM says Liberal party asked him to ‘campaign extensively’

The current prime minister is unpopular in city marginal seats, so the Coalition is banking on robocalls and letterbox drops from Howard to sway voters

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Australians might have been sitting down for dinner about 7pm on Monday, or tuning in to the news, but for those living in marginal seats there was a chance they were interrupted - by the former prime minister John Howard.

Hello it's John Howard calling from Sydney for the Liberal party," were the words voters in seats such as North Sydney, Wentworth and Hughes heard when they answered their landlines and mobile phones.