Mounting scandals hurting Howard

Howard, as chairman of CHOGM, faces a difficult decision on Zimbabwe

CANBERRA, Australia (CNN) -- If, as the saying goes, a week is a long time in politics, then the past five months must seem an eternity for Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

After masterminding a stunning electoral turnaround last November to secure a third consecutive term in office for his conservative Liberal-National coalition, Howard has sustained a procession of morale-sapping scandals which has rubbed away any lingering gloss of poll victory.

What's more, the barrage of political blows has bolstered the flagging spirits of supporters of Australia's prime-minister-in-waiting, Treasurer Peter Costello.

The latest drama to rock the coalition government has been accusations of sexual misconduct made in parliament by Howard's Cabinet Secretary Senator Bill Heffernan about an Australian High Court judge.

Heffernan, a confidante of Howard's, used the protection of parliamentary privilege to accuse Justice Michael Kirby of using his government-provided car to trawl a notorious area of Sydney to pick up underage male prostitutes.

Problem is, the information Heffernan was relying on to support his allegations was quickly shown to have been falsified.

EXTRA INFORMATION Detention: Australia's choice    MORE STORIES • One too many asylum seekers     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

Howard, who had been sitting on the fence over this issue, was forced to ask Heffernan to resign his executive position within the government and make a full and formal apology to Kirby in the Senate, the Australian parliament's upper house.

It's a damaging situation for Howard who has been accused of failing to speak out against Heffernan earlier and defend the institution of the High Court.

Worse still, Howard may have exacerbated the damage done to Kirby by reading out a letter by Heffernan concerning the issue in parliament, and by casting his own doubts on Kirby's position in a series of statements late last week.

Howard is now en-route to London where he, along with South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, will decide the Commonwealth's response to the Zimbabwe election observers report on the fairness of the election result in that country.

A failure to secure a suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth could reflect poorly on Howard, who is currently chairman of the grouping of former British empire nations.

The latest troubles add to a litany of political woes for Howard.

Most recently, he and senior ministers have been accused of misleading the public over claims a boatload of asylum-seekers had deliberately thrown their children overboard when intercepted by an Australian navy ship.

The claims -- which were subsequently proved to be false -- were used by Howard during the election campaign to bolster his government's tough zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration.

Defend appointment

Australian Treasurer Peter Costello is the heir apparent for the top job

A senate inquiry into who told whom what, and when, in the affair is about to start and could provide further damaging revelations.

Howard has also been forced to defend his appointment of Australia's official Head of State, Peter Hollingworth.

Hollingworth has been embroiled in accusations he failed to act appropriately on child sexual abuse incidents while he was Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, a post he resigned to take up the governor-general role.

Calls for Howard to sack Hollingworth have been widespread and many welfare organizations have dumped the governor-general as their patron in the light of his mishandling of these issues.

Former government ministers are also creating problems for Howard.

The prime minister has been on the back foot over accusations his former minister for health, Michael Wooldridge, redirected millions of dollars of health funding into a grant for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in the last weeks of his ministry.

Cumulative effect

The college then promptly employed the retired Wooldridge as a consultant. An investigation into the deal by the auditor-general has now been ordered.

While none of these issues seems sufficient on its own to bring down the prime minister, the cumulative effect is taking its toll.

Combine this with all seven of Australia's State and Territory governments now being run by opposition Labor governments, and life just doesn't seem likely to get any easier for Howard.

The prime minister has in the past indicated he would review his life plans in 2003, but has never committed himself to stepping down before the next general election.

In the euphoria surrounding last November's triumph it seemed Howard might even stick around to fight a fourth campaign at the helm.

But now the supporters of Costello must be renewing thoughts that the time approaches for their man to take over the reins.

No quitter

November's election victory must seem a long way past for Howard

Certainly, the strong economic performance of Australia against a dismal global backdrop, augurs well for the treasurer who has so far remained relatively untainted by scandals hurting Howard.

But, billion-dollar losses -- on paper at least --on foreign-currency swap transactions by Costello's treasury have the potential to damage his otherwise good reputation for financial prudence.

Costello also lacks the "Everyman" appeal which Howard seems to retain through thick and thin.

And Howard has a proven reputation for toughing it out.

The man who once described himself as "Lazarus with a triple bypass", is a doughty political fighter and certainly not a quitter.

Only the foolhardy would underestimate his political survival skills.