John Howard has seen the lighter side of the controversy over ABC ‘bias’ monitoring, while on the receiving end of some less than flattering talkback callers on 774ABC Melbourne.

One caller called the PM a googly eyed liar, who’d lose the next election, to which Mr Howard responded: “I don’t think he likes me very much”.

Another caller said the Budget promotes a greedy society which he wants us to be. The PM replied: “the woman doesn’t sound like a spontaneous middle Australian voter” and joked with morning presenter, Jon Faine.

Towards the end of the segment, the Prime Minister told Faine: “You’re not doing a very good job at monitoring!”