Under what strange law of nature is it that the more successful a political party is, the further it slumps in the opinion polls? This must be the question plaguing strategists and members of the Coalition as they survey the latest Newspoll. Fresh from hosting a highly successful and productive G20, the government not only finds itself going backwards in popular support, but sees the hapless and uninspiring figure of Bill Shorten being touted as preferred PM.

Admittedly, the economic and political successes of the G20 were overshadowed in the daily headlines by a swag of sensationalist stories. A pandering, populist POTUS, Barack Obama, disgracefully hogged the limelight with his increasingly deceptive legacy message of turning back the ‘rising’ oceans – even now from the Great Barrier Reef, apparently, – whilst Mr Putin also managed to divert attention from the serious G20 agenda with his adolescent display of boys’ floating toys.

Yet the G20 stands as a resounding success, and will go down as a significant milestone in not only 21st century Australian history, but in the history of the Abbott government. As a succession of global leaders demonstrated, clumsy handshakes and ‘shirt-fronting’ quips notwithstanding, Tony Abbott cuts an impressive figure on the world stage. Thanks to his own good-natured, principled diplomacy, and the extraordinary work of his talented team (take a bow Julie Bishop and Andrew Robb), Australia is increasingly being lusted after as a critical trade and security partner in our region.

As the economic rise of India gathers pace, and as China eases into its Pacific Asian leadership role, we find ourselves as a key partner in both these historic transformations. And as David Martin Jones points out in this issue, we have a critical role to play in the balancing act between China and the US. (More’s the pity Mr Obama sought to bignote himself with the twitterati at the expense of his hosts, but letting his friends down is standard MO for this vainglorious president.)

The positive outcomes of the G20 – from the Brisbane Action Plan of world growth of $2 trillion to cracking down on bank secrecy, energy governance and the Global Infrastructure Hub – join an impressive list of achievements that the Abbott government has notched up in the past few months. Three FTA’s with more on the horizon, closer links with the UK (as mooted in these pages last week), ‘stopping the boats’, scrapping the carbon tax and slashing red tape are all ‘wins’ that will improve the economic wellbeing of average Aussie battlers. Yet despite, or perhaps because of, such an avalanche of achievements, no single, clear message is getting through to the punters.

‘People around the world are going to be better off, and that’s what it’s all about’ declared Tony Abbott. Yes, but unless he can better communicate this to the public, the one person who won’t do so well out of his obvious successes may, perversely, be Mr Abbott himself.

 Gillard’s good character

If for no other quality, Julia Gillard deserves high praise for her unflinching chutzpah. After all, this is a woman who as good as got the flick from her stint as a partner in Slater & Gordon thanks to her ‘questionable’ legal practices; who for no plausible reason other than ruthless ambition destroyed a popularly-elected first-term leader (Kevin Rudd); who told perhaps the most infamous lie in Australian politics (‘there will be no carbon tax etc’); and whose judgment was so poor on so many occasions that she managed, among a litany of errors, to wreak havoc on the live cattle industry, to inflict the lamentable Bob Carr into the heart of our foreign affairs, to arguably encourage deaths on the high seas through incompetent and misguided border control policies, and to sit idly by while the nation’s borrowings spiraled out of control. All of which, we are to believe, was done with the noblest intentions.

As the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption heads towards its interim report on December 14, Ms Gillard’s legal team have asked that the commission ‘give significant weight to (her) good character and reputation’ and ignore the sworn evidence of a variety of individuals regarding cash handed to tradesmen and the like. ‘The commission should decline to make any findings that are adverse to, or critical of, Ms Gillard,’ they say.

What an extraordinary demand to make of a legal inquiry, whose sole job it is to seek the truth without fear or favour. Quite why Ms Gillard believes her ‘character’ should grant her some special immunity is a mystery.