KEY POINTS:
In life, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer advises, you come across boys who are show-offs. By his own reckoning he is not one of them, because, he says, he has sufficient self-confidence to resist the temptation.
Almost, anyway. Immediately after giving this response to an invitation to show off his mastery of French in reply to Labor leader Kevin Rudd's now famous expertise in Mandarin, Downer could not resist rattling off a quick message in the Gallic tongue.
His opponent in a debate at the National Press Club yesterday, Labor foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland, was not impressed: "I can't speak Mandarin, but I've eaten one or two in my time."
Beyond this brief flash of humour, their debate on the direction of foreign policy pushed the increasingly personal and bitter campaign for the November 24 election into new ground.
Downer and McClelland had more similarities than differences, with their approaches to the world showing real divergences only on the war in Iraq and Labor's intention to bring Australian combat troops home, the Government's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, and Labor's intention to shift trade emphasis away from bilateral pacts and back toward multilateral negotiations.
And because other differences were matters of nuance or emphasis, Downer's attack followed the established theme - of Labor's alleged inexperience, incompetence and profligacy - and added toughness.
The Government had been tough on terrorism, tough in Iraq, tough with wilful Pacific states. In contrast, Labor did not have what in earlier elections politicians called "ticker".
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull had used the same kind of language in his debate with Labor counterpart Peter Garrett.
And now the Government is using a turncoat former Labor MP, Brian Courtice, in new campaign advertisements to hammer home the theme.
Claiming the election is a union grab for power, Courtice says: "Kevin Rudd couldn't go three rounds with Winnie the Pooh, so there is no way he can stand up to the union bosses."
Prime Minister John Howard increasingly needs every weapon he can lay his hands on, with opinion polls continuing to place the Government 10 percentage points behind Labor.
Yesterday, further bad news came from internet betting agency Lasseters Sportsbook, which reported a surge in support for Labor after Rudd's campaign launch in Brisbane on Wednesday.
In the past week one punter bet A$30,000 on Labor wins in a number of individual electorates, while in the 24 hours preceding the Lasseters announcement the odds on a Rudd victory shortened from A$1.35 to A$1.30, while the Coalition's price blew out from A$3.25 to A$3.50.
"It will be very hard for the Coalition to win from here," Lasseters spokesman Gerard Daffy said.
In Howard's Sydney electorate of Bennelong, the Prime Minister felt a more personal blow.
Already facing the possible loss of his seat to former ABC broadcaster Maxine McKew, Howard is now also under attack from a privately funded campaign by Melbourne businessman Bill McHarg to dump the Prime Minister.
