For political fringe-dwellers like the Greens, there was no threat to Australia’s national security to warrant the 2005 anti-terrorism laws. The legislation was, they said, all a ruse to hide the government’s real agenda, ramming the new industrial relations laws through parliament during that first week in November 2005.

The former treasurer attended the traditional opening of the Senate with the Opposition Leader, putting on a show of unity as the pair laughed and joked during ceremony. Mr Costello is widely believed to be backing Dr Nelson’s leadership against any potential challenge by treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull.

The power-sharing arrangement between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard gives every appearance of being the most equitable of any political duo in recent political history, and one that Gillard’s admirers believe only establishes her more firmly as the Labor leader-in-waiting.