So far it’s according to plan. The previews to Monday’s Council of Australian Government meeting (COAG) have been chugging along according to the well established plan for such gatherings. Some Premiers are expressing outrage at the attitude of an arrogant Federal Government and the Prime Minister is talking tough about not making any concessions. It has been thus since the start of the days when Premiers came to Canberra with their begging bowls out.

In my memory of 45 years in the national capital there are occasions aplenty when the newspapers were full of stories of an impending crisis. I am hard put to remember when a complete breakdown in the system actually occurred.

I expect that by the time COAG concludes there will be extra dollars in the health budgets of the states for the short term and that the Commonwealth will basically get what it wants. There might be a minor grumble or two from a Premier pretending that the offer should have been more but Kevin Rudd will get his victory.

Friends in low places. Many true words are sung in jest. On Washington’s Capitol Hill this week the legislators had their very own GRAMMYs on The Hill as the recording industry honoured Garth Brooks — by having a gang of lawmakers serenade him with his own “Friends in Low Places.” Singers, reports the Washington Post, included Sheila Jackson Lee, Dick Durbin, Darrell Issa, Joe Crowley, Paul Hodes and John Conyers.

16-04-2010 gaarthbrooksandpoliticalchoir

Smart and humble. It used to be said of Australian political leaders that to be successful the people had to think they were fit to meet the Queen without embarrassing us all. These days that’s changed a bit with the President of the United States probably now the yard stick rather than her Majesty. I mean Paul Keating got away with an inappropriate touch on her Majesty’s back but Billy McMahon could not survive his comically inept appearance at the White House.

Kevin Rudd now has clearly passed the test. Just as John Howard was George Bush’s great mate (which stood him in good stead until the presidential popularity began to wane), Prime Minister Rudd now has the accolade of being both smart and humble. That endorsement will do him no harm and a visit by Barack Obama to Australia before an election is called will make it even better.

An improving West Australian. I admit to being surprised at how often these days when I do my morning blog about what’s in the papers how often The West Australian has the best and straightest reporting of Canberra stories. There certainly has been a transformation. Conversely I notice how rare it  now is to find yarns of significance in the Melbourne Herald Sun.

One other observation on the state of the papers: all of those in the Murdoch stable have taken on a pronounced anti-Labor flavour.