This week Prime Minister John Howard said he would hand the leadership over to Peter Costello if elected, while the government locked away the communications fund, plus Anna Bligh, APEC, Citizenship and Higher Education.
"Mature as he was, she might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man. ...
"Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted... Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die."
--E M Forster, Howards End.
Howard's Continuity - no end in sight.
A family discussion, a recognised need for unity among his colleagues and the setting of a succession plan as clear cut as an APEC climate change announcement have convinced Prime Minister John Howard to contest this year's election.
In simple terms, the rhetoric has not strayed too far from Mr Howard's comments on ABC radio on Monday morning, after an ACNeilsen poll for Fairfax newspapers put the Kevin Rudd-led opposition in a strong 57-43, two-party preferred lead.
"The party addressed this (leadership) issue last year and a decision was taken. The overwhelming view of the party then was that I should remain as leader and Peter Costello should remain as deputy leader and treasurer," Mr Howard said at the time.
"That's been the position and that will remain the position.
"What we must now do is focus on what the public is telling us through the opinion polls and I think they are telling us a number of things, and focus on getting ready for the election battle ahead, which I do not in any way regard as unwinnable for the coalition."
That battle will now be fought two-against-one, as Mr Howard told ABC TV's 7:30 Report that he would step down some time into his term in favour of Mr Costello.
After the announcement, Mr Costello was on the airwaves, championing the Government's plans for a Higher Education Endowment Fund, and keeping the tax burden low.
"Part of our plan is also water. Ensuring that our capital cities have enough water so that our lifestyle can be maintained. Fixing irrigation in the Murray-Darling Basin. Water is going to be a challenge for this country," he said.
He also stepped up the campaign against Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, saying he was a very "tricky" man.
"He is well packaged and he is making a lot of promises for the never-never, but he is not delivering any real changes for the Australian people," the treasurer said.
"He makes promises, then when you read the fine print you find out that he's not going to do anything about it when he gets elected."
For his part, Mr Rudd said today that the federal election will be a tight run contest highlighted by a federal government smear campaign against the ALP.
"My view is that this election will be very, very tight because of the negative campaign being launched by the Liberals in parliament and through what will be a barrage of paid advertising on TV," Mr Rudd told reporters in Sydney.
Mr Rudd said he had a clear plan for Australia's future.
"Mr Howard and Mr Costello now offer confusion and uncertainty," he said.
"Mr Howard has lost touch with working families; Mr Costello has never been in touch."
For the record, Mr Howard has committed to not calling the election before the end of next week and holding it before early December, making the earliest possible date October 27, for one most likely to be held during November.
Brief opinion piece
The Prime Minister's Monday assessment of a need to connect to, and provide new ideas for, the Australian people is right on the money.
Those new ideas, or the perceived potential for them, have been the strongest contributing factor to the ALP's rising popularity so far.
Arch believes that while Mr Howard, Mr Costello, Mr Rudd and deputy opposition leader Julia Gillard may not appeal to various people, it won't stop them voting in their favour.
Things are looking good for the ALP at the moment, but the election campaign hasn't started yet - there is still much to do for either party to have any hope of winning government.
Ongoing personal attacks, from either side, won't cut it without a core policy framework.
Communication difficulties
A plan of the ALP to build a $4.7 billion broadband network has hit a snag, after parliament passed laws preventing future governments from raiding the Communications fund, set up in 2005 as a perpetual source of income to pay for upgrades to communications services in rural and regional areas.
Under the law, only the interest earned from the fund - up to $400 million every three years - can be spent, effectively stymieing Labor's plans to use $2 billion from the fund for its plan.
Opposition communications spokesman Stephen Conroy said the draft laws would do nothing to improve regional internet services.
"It is a political stunt with the intended aim of highlighting the fact that Labor will use the Communications Fund to provide investment capital to build a national broadband network," Senator Conroy said.
But Communications Minister Helen Coonan said the bill would ensure the fund was used for the purpose for which it was established.
Nationals Senator Fiona Nash said the laws protecting the fund would guarantee regional communications were kept up to standard.
She accused Labor of promoting a broadband policy which favoured metropolitan users at the expense of regional areas.
The amendments would force a Rudd government to change the law before it could put its high-speed internet system in place.
If it wins office, Labor will face a hostile Senate at least until July next year when the newly elected upper house sits for the first time.
Even then, Labor would need minor party support to get legislation through the upper house.
Higher Education
Labor's concern for the future of its broadband policy also came up after laws were passed in the lower house setting up the $6 billion university building fund known as the Higher Education Endowment Fund.
The legislation sets up a scheme for the $6 billion to be invested and universities to apply for some of the profits.
While supporting the bill, Labor used debate to criticise the government, with Labor's finance spokesman Lindsay Tanner saying the fund had been established to "cripple" Labor's proposed broadband network.
"The legislation before the parliament today...sets up a five billion dollar and soon to be six (billion dollar) new fund with money that otherwise was going to the Future Fund for financing higher education," Mr Tanner told parliament.
"The legislation...is seeking to everything it can to prevent Labor from implementing its policy should it be elected to govern Australia."
The bill now goes to the Senate.
Citizenship Test
Meanwhile, in the Senate, legislation surrounding the federal government's new Australian citizenship tests, requiring applicants to correctly answer questions on the country's history, geography, government and traditions, was passed.
The upper house approved the citizenship exams with some minor government amendments. The bill now goes back to the lower house for final clearance.
Labor supported the legislation but the Australian Democrats and Greens opposed it, with Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett describing it as bad policy and a throwback to the "cultural cringe".
The government voted down a Democrat amendment to have the Australian Electoral Commission test the citizenship questions on a sample group of Australian-born citizens to determine if the quiz is suitable.
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews last month published draft resource booklets to be used as the basis for the 20 test questions, of which applicants must answer 12 correctly to receive a pass mark.
Among the topics covered in the booklet are Australia's floral emblem, the national gemstone, the Aboriginal flag and the emergence of the Heidelberg School of impressionist art.
The government is keen to keep the actual test questions secret, though they will inevitably emerge once the regime is in place.
Applicants for Australian citizenship will need to possess a higher level of English language ability than was required previously.
Opposition justice spokesman Joe Ludwig the citizenship test would serve its purpose if it helped migrants learn more about Australia and build a more cohesive society.
But Labor was concerned not enough effort was being put towards improving migrants' access to English language tuition, he said.
APEC climate change declaration
Earlier in the weak, 21 world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit failed to agree on a stable target for greenhouse gas emission reductions in the much-vaunted Sydney declaration on climate change, instead agreeing to a watered-down promise to work towards an aspirational goal.
They also endorsed the United Nations process as the best way to develop climate change arrangements after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Mr Howard, who along with US President George W. Bush is the only world leader not to ratify Kyoto, had made getting an aspirational target the major focus of the summit.
"The Sydney declaration has been adopted," Mr Howard said.
"I thank leaders of the APEC economies. It's a very important milestone in the march towards a sensible international agreement on climate change, which recognises the need to make progress, but also recognises that different economies bring different perspectives to addressing the challenge of climate change."
But the Federal Opposition said the Howard Government must move beyond a declaration or aspirational targets in order to tackle climate change.
"If Mr Howard signed up to a domestic greenhouse target, ratified Kyoto, and worked through the UN, Australia could make big inroads in building on the goodwill of APEC and shape the post-2012 framework," opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett said.
"This is why we need to move beyond aspirational targets in the Sydney Declaration to practical national and global targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
The final word
In a week where Liberal backbencher Steven Ciobo compared the ALP frontbenches to the Spice Girls and Labor backbencher Duncan Kerr said the Prime Minister was like the dead parrot in the famous Monty Python skit, the final word goes to Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle.
According to the Australian, the official swearing in ceremony of new Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was a poignant occasion, as the Governor, former national sex discrimination commissioner Quentin Bryce, reminded those attending to the efforts of women's rights activists from the previous century.
To commemorate the occasion, the Governor, new Premier and female members of her Cabinet decided they would pose for a group photograph, only for there to be an uncomfortable moment when the photographer referred to the group as "girls".
However, the tension was soon defused.
"You can call us sexy broads," Boyle joked.
Arch reckons it's a step up from Sheilas.
