A new year begins...

2007 is barely begun and already Howard has returned nuclear energy to the national agenda. This strategy was planned and executed in a different era - an era where Howard faced the lacklustre Beazley, battling to show the voters that he had the 'ticker' to be Prime Minister. What is interesting is that Howard and his advisers have decided to lead into the new year, in the middle of Rudd's political honeymoon, with the nuclear 'wedge' aimed squarely at Labor. Howard and his team still see value and political gain from pushing the point - it would be interesting to see what they are planning now they have set the scene for the nuclear debate.

Rudd is steadily working on a 'war chest' through favours from Labor's Premiers and Chief Ministers. Federal Labor seeks to make significant savings by making deals with State Labor that Howard has been unable to achieve. While this all sounds good in theory, I can't help wondering if there are a few reservations from poor performing State governments behind closed doors. Who will Beattie blame if Federal Labor is in government? How will the supposed voter desire for a 'check' ( one party for the state, the other for the nation ) work when a Federal Labor Government returns to power? QLD and NSW Labor must be carefully wieghing up their options, attempting not to burn too many bridges with Howard and hedge their bets for next year's election.

I was interested to see the commentary this week on Fraser's decisions in regards to humanitarian immigration for Lebanese during the 1970's. It shows how careful planning and consideration must always be applied to immigration. Poor choices made three decades ago have delivered a community that to this day faces difficulty integrating into the Australian mainstream where others have not. Fraser blames Governments after his for failing to ensure integration support was adequate - and indeed some of the actions taken by Labor were short term focused, designed to curry favour in Western Sydney. What Fraser fails to own up to is the fact that he went against Department advice, and failed to respond to repeated warnings - this is an issue that will haunt Australia and the Lebanese Australian community for some time to come.

So predictions for the new year - NSW Labor returned to office, Howard returned to office, more of the same in Iraq and Israel. I'll be watching senior Liberal figures for clues to how Howard's retirement in 2008 will change the face of the Coalition Government.