Political Corrections

with Mungo MacCallum

Back at the Beaze knees

What a difference a day makes.

Just over a week ago John Howard was coasting along nicely on what appeared to be a wave of increasing support, culminating in the achievement of not one, but two major awards at National Brown Nose Day - a sure sign of the frustration of his opponents. And then, suddenly, the political ground shook beneath his feet: Kim Beazley was back, and one of Howard's key electoral strategies was a smouldering ruin.

Even before Mark Latham made a solid and constructive speech on the same night about Labor's specific plans to help in the reconstruction of post-war Iraq, it was clear that the government's sloganeering about cut and run policies, Labor hates America, the end of the alliance as we know it and the rest of the assorted crud would no longer fly. The return of Beazley to Latham's front bench and more importantly to his beloved defence portfolio not only added weight (obviously), along with experience, gravitas and an undeniable touch of class to go with Latham's daring and excitement; it also brought an abrupt end to the anti-Labor sniping from Washington.

Within nanoseconds the US ambassador Tom Shieffer was publicly enthusing about a new direction (although actually nothing in the policy had changed) and Richard Armitage, the assistant secretary of state who had previously declared Labor split down the middle over Iraq (he knew this, he declared solemnly, because no one had been playing hide the sausage with him - his alleged familiarity with Australia clearly does not extend to idiom) was welcoming the prodigal back to the fold.

Indeed, so dramatic was the reconciliation that some of the Labor faithful were alarmed by it: with Beazley back on board, would the party join the Libs in what Latham once described as a conga line of suckholes? If Beazley's pronouncements over the last week are anything to go by, the answer is clearly no: he has stated plainly (well, as plainly as he ever states anything) that there are clear and robust differences between Washington and Labor over foreign policy and he is not about to change them. But he has also made it clear that they can be handled in a civilised and realistic manner, with goodwill on both sides.

This, incidentally, was always Latham's intention, but he lacked the diplomatic skills needed to get the point across. Now, suddenly, one of the biggest impediments to his becoming prime minister has been blown away by his much-maligned predecessor. Monday July 12 might just be the date on which Labor won the election.

And Howard and his troops know it. Scrabbling for traction, the Prime Minister announced that nothing had really changed; tell that to Shieffer and Armitage. In reply, he performed the miniest of mini reshuffles himself. He replaced two ministers who were retiring at the next election, rather than letting them serve out their terms as has been his practice in the past.

True, the two were now technically lame ducks; but then, they had been non-technically lame ducks for most of their careers and he hadn't seemed to mind. David "Count Yorga" Kemp is a right wing ideologue who was too zealous in education and, rather surprisingly, too conscientious in environment, which meant he was regularly rolled in cabinet. This may or may not have contributed to his abrupt decision to, in the time-honoured phrase, spend more time with his family. Daryl Williams has never been very much of anything; his time as Attorney-General and later as Communications Minister has left no discernible trace on the political landscape.

Their replacements in cabinet, Ian Campbell and Helen Coonan, are just another couple of faces in the Howard crowd. The real advantage for Howard is that he has been able to bring in a couple of junior ministers from marginal seats; whether promotion will save Fran Bailey in McEwen or Jim Lloyd in Robertson is yet to be seen.

If the aim was to produce a new-look, rejuvenated cabinet, it has demonstrably failed: Howard admitted as much when he declaimed that "there is not a problem in making a change to a crew member as long as the captain is tried and true and experienced and knows where he is going because ultimately he determines the direction of everything." Apart from providing another example of his accelerating megalomania, this only drew attention to his own unexplained position; Latham promptly repeated his demand that Howard should come clean about when he planned to hand over to the unloved Peter Costello, who appears to have abandoned rationality in order to cultivate the fundamentalist Christian vote.

Howard once again refused to be drawn on his plans (or lack of them) for the future, instead opting to write a personal letter to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph denying that he had ever said that Don Bradman was the greatest Australian of all time; what he had said was that, when Bradman was alive, he was the greatest living Australian, and there was a difference.

Clearly he has too much time on his hands. The way the week has gone, and with a little bit of luck, he can shortly look forward to much more.

Finally, a grovelling correction. Last week I wrongly named Deborah Hope as one of the authors of the Sydney Morning Herald's hatchet job on Mark Latham. The offending writer was of course Deborah Snow. Sincere apologies.