Howard carrying wounds to battle

JOHN Howard may face the biggest challenge of his prime ministership when Federal Parliament resumes today.How he handles Labor's planned assault on the integrity of the Coalition could well lay the pattern for the election expected in October.

Labor sees an opportunity in the dismissal of Queensland Senator Santo Santoro from the federal frontbench and believes it can exploit the potential to wreak greater damage on the Liberal Party than the loss of a single minister would normally achieve. By his clumsy refusal to acknowledge his share transactions, Labor believes Santoro demonstrated that the legendary discipline exercised by Howard within the party room – often touted as one of the reasons for his four election victories – may be more fable than fact. That a long-term politician, albeit a relative newcomer to Federal Parliament (he was named to replace Senator John Herron in October 2002), who had 13 years experience as a state MP in Queensland, would fail to 'fess up to his share dealings though he was written to, spoken to and directly asked about the matter, must send a shudder through the senior ranks of the Liberal Party. Every leader, at some stage, must take on trust party members' declarations that they are following the rules regarding accountability. To do otherwise would create an impossible climate of suspicion and fear that would paralyse the workings of the party. The Liberals have shown themselves to be capable of encompassing a breadth of political views, including those of the perennial self-publicist Petro Georgiou, but no party can reward dishonesty with trust – and trust has been a mainstay of the Liberals' successful campaigns in the past four elections. It has been suggested Santoro's actions were probably acceptable within the framework of a Queenslander's sense of accountability, but that's not good enough. While it may be the sort of argument a West Australian might try, or a member of the ALP's NSW Right, the Howard Government was able to talk up its credibility credentials following Labor's mudslinging attack on leading business figures Ron Walker, Hugh Morgan and Robert Champion de Crespny. Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's attempt to stonewall questions about his meetings and telephone conversations with disgraced former West Australian premier Brian Burke played in to the Government's hands, as did the dispute about his narrative of his family's hardships. But Santoro's disclosures about his shareholdings have derailed current arguments about Labor's integrity. In an instant he has neutralised the issue of Rudd's contact with the power-peddling Burke. In his maiden speech, Santoro talked of the opportunities the Liberal Party and numerous fellow party members had provided him with as he climbed the greasy pole. He was a hard worker, he did a lot of spadework and his strong character made him a good media performer – but somewhere there was a flaw, an unacceptable approach to disclosure that permitted him to move his personal moral goalposts despite knowing what the rules were. If he believed, as he stated, that he owed so much to the Liberal Party, to the people from his state, and that he was proud of the job the Government and its leader were doing, why did he abuse the trust shown in him? Why should he now retain the trust of his party and why should he remain at the top of the Queensland Liberals' Senate ticket? Federally the pre-election tempo has already reached a level that would be expected two months out from a poll, not eight months. Rudd's contact and assorted union heavies in Perth should be legitimate matters of concern. Western Australia is run by union thugs in league with influence-peddlers such as Burke. But the Santoro affair has meant this corrupt state of affairs is already diminishing in the ever-moving rear-mirror view of current affairs. Ever since Rudd deposed Kim Beazley to take up the legacy of Simon Crean and Mark Latham, Labor's media fellow travellers have claimed that he has "rattled" Howard. Since his elevation, Rudd has run a strategy of stealth leadership. He has eschewed the House histrionics of Beazley, Latham, Crean and Paul Keating to present himself as the measured leader, diligently minding his knitting as the mortar shells cross overhead. He has been the ice man – unrattled. Thorough its own efforts, the Coalition has made itself the target and it is its strategy, demeanour and comportment today that will determine its standing in the eyes of the electorate. Howard has never been dismissive of his opponents but today he returns to the arena handicapped by his colleague's stupidity. He will need all his experience and guile to retain control of the agenda.