Has John Howard ever been so much in charge of affairs? He has won four elections, several against initial odds. He has complete primacy within his party, and, while some expect, and others pray, that he will leave office in the not too distant future, there is no pressure upon him to do so, even from Peter Costello. He has a complete ascendency over a defeated, demoralised and directionless Opposition, which is preoccupied either with its own struggles or its own leadership to be much trouble to the Government. With a Senate majority in hand, John Howard is able to look forward to getting his agenda through parliament few concessions to minor parties. Indeed, he will probably make inroads during the first six months of 2005, before he actually has a Senate majority, as Labor will find it hard to resist the idea that Howard has a mandate. The bureaucracy is under the thumb. The economy is in fairly good shape. So is he; Howard has never looked healthier even after a long and tough year. Now perhaps is the time for the history books, or at least some deeper projects.
Howard is a clean-desk man, and, for all of his micro-management tendencies, he has learnt to put his personal focus on only a few issues at a time, even if his chronic pessimism means that he has a weather eye on everything. As Parliament rose for the year, he had little in his in-tray, apart from the pleasure of overtaking Bob Hawke as Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister on December 21. The few saucepans on the stove—Aboriginal affairs and regional economic relations—were simmering away nicely, ready for testing when duties resume.
At the end of the year Howard made a very successful trip to Asia, even as he seemed to be modestly under-estimating his achievement. Australia secured a better continuing place at the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings than ever before. If this owes as much to the retirement of Australia’s old antagonist Dr Mahathir as to any diplomacy of Howard’s, it seemed to undermine the argument that Australia’s supine following of the United States had put it out of sorts with the region. Australia was not the only neighbour present, and was really the least important, with China, Japan and India hovering about and discussing wider trade relations. Australia has a stronger trading relationship with each of