Most Australians didn’t even know he was back in the country. But all of a sudden the Prime Minister was in Canberra, making history. The bloke doesn’t stop.

All new Governments go through a period early on when they can do no wrong, when their political judgement is perfect and everything comes easy. It never lasts, of course. And it looked like the Rudd Government’s early adroitness had vanished with headlines about carers and the Budget. But having wowed the critics with his performances overseas, Rudd has almost literally stepped off the plane to keep the momentum going. It’s yet more symbolism, yes, but not of the artificial kind conjured by summits.

What’s most impressive about the appointment is its timing. At 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, the announcements suddenly appeared in journalists’ inboxes across the country. Michael Jeffery’s formal resignation, followed immediately by Quentin Bryce’s appointment, then the invitation to the press conference. Timed perfectly for the Sunday evening news and Monday papers.

Speculation about Jeffery’s replacement had barely started, apart from a half-hearted and ill-informed push for Kim Beazley back in January. The lobbying for a female G-G hadn’t got under way. Rudd has seized the initiative rather than look as though he has reacted to external campaigns. First female Governor-General. Making history never looked so effortless.

Supporters of Lowitja O’Donoghue, who have been lobbying for her to be appointed G-G since the Keating era, might be disappointed, but Bryce is pretty much perfect. A lawyer with a strong feminist and social justice background, but hardly a radical (radicals don’t end up running Sydney University’s Women’s College). Better yet, she’s already had plenty of experience at the gig in Queensland.

“There’s not a shred of tokenism in the appointment,” Liberal Senator Helen Coonan told us. Coonan is one of Parliament’s most active promoters of women’s issues and is a veteran of the efforts to strengthen women’s representation since the 1970s. She has known Bryce for more than two decades and is delighted with her appointment.

“Bryce is very talented and has had a long career spanning a number of areas. And growing up in a small country town, she has that self-reliance but also an understanding of the glue that holds communities together. She’ll be a very considered Governor-General, with an absolute commitment to the office, but she will appeal to everyone.”

For years John Howard liked to taunt Labor with his claim that the conservative side of politics had increased the representation of women in power “without the patronising use of quotas.” But he had two chances to appoint a Governor-General, and botched one and failed to use the other effectively.

In Coonan’s view, however, that Labor got to appoint the first female Governor-General reflects the growth in the numbers of women with the experience and profile necessary to take on the highest positions.

“Women were behind the 8-ball for years but now the pool of talent is big enough that there are outstanding women to draw on for these positions. It’s nothing to do with party politics.”

For decades the union-dominated, blokey culture of the ALP meant that its progressivist pretensions to supporting women in politics came to nothing. But with a formidable female Deputy PM and a female Governor-General, Labor has now seized the mantle of gender equity.