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Turnbull 'won't be frontbencher'

Photo: Sydney Mayor Lucy Turnbull congratulates husband Malcolm.
 

PRIME Minister John Howard today indicated he would not put the newly pre-selected businessman Malcolm Turnbull on the frontbench should he win the Sydney seat of Wentworth. Though not wanting to put "the kiss of death" on the new Liberal candidate, Mr. Howard did say Mr. Turnbull was "very able" and would be a welcome addition to the party. "He's a very able person who will bring quite an array of talent to the parliament," Mr. Howard told reporters in Sydney. "It's always good when people of great ability win preselection." The Prime Minister also "commiserated" with losing incumbent Peter King and acknowledged his disappointment. Mr. Howard was coy about Mr. Turnbull's prospects for advancement within the government saying all newcomers to the parliament traditionally spent time on the backbench. "It's normal, let me say, to someone when they first come into parliament to spend a little bit of time learning the ropes," he said. "It applied to me ... it applies to everybody." As for Mr Turnbull's prospects for the top job, Mr. Howard was also reluctant to speculate. "Just as the kiss of death is to say somebody as a cricketer 'he's another Bradman', you don't start doing that (speculating on prime ministerial ambition)." The Prime Minister said he and Mr. Turnbull had long since spoken about "burying the hatchet" in the years after the former leader of the Australian Republican Movement described him as the man "who broke a nation's heart". Mr. Turnbull last night won a preselection ballot for the blue ribbon Sydney seat of Wentworth, defeating one term sitting MP Mr. King 88 votes to 70. AAP

Vladimir Putin has surprised Russia once again. Less than a week after he sacked the entire cabinet, the Russian President has nominated a little-known technocrat to take over as the new Prime Minister.

Mikhail Fradkov is currently Russia's ambassador to the European Union. Before that he headed the country's tax police. Earlier still, he was Minister of Trade and Deputy Secretary of the Security Council. Announcing his choice, Mr. Putin described Mikhail Fradkov, 53, as a man with wide-ranging experience from fighting corruption as head of the tax police, to representing Russia abroad. Mr. Fradkov's surprise nomination has ended six days of feverish speculation, in which dozens of names were put-forward as potential prime ministers. The low-profile EU envoy was never among them. Echo of Moscow radio station ran a competition at the weekend - offering prizes to anyone who could predict Mr. Putin's choice correctly. The main rumours swirled around Sergei Ivanov, acting Defence Minister and the man many predict will succeed Mr. Putin as president. Others put their money on acting Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. And there were mounting whispers about several figures from high-up in the presidential administration. Following Mr. Putin's announcement, the prizes at the radio station have presumably been put back on the shelf. Last week, the president explained his decision to dismiss the government with a desire to hit the ground running with reforms following next month's presidential elections. He repeated that line as he announced Mr. Fradkov's nomination. "I want you to work with Mikhail Fradkov to finish the reforms that have dragged on for so long," Mr. Putin told ministers. "I want them completed in the shortest possible time." According to the constitution, parliament has one week to consider the president's choice. But it is highly unlikely to stand in his way. Speaker of Parliament Boris Gryzlov immediately hailed Mikhail Fradkov as an honest and fair professional. "The various factions in the Duma have plenty of time to put questions to Mikhail Fradkov and form their own opinion," Mr. Gryzlov told Russian media. "But the opinion of United Russia is that we will support his candidacy." Mr. Gryzlov announced that parliament, or the Duma, would formally consider the president's choice on Friday. With a huge pro-Putin majority in the chamber a vote of approval is all but guaranteed. Analysts and political commentators alike were taken aback by the second shock announcement from Mr Putin in a week. But the financial markets absorbed the news calmly. There had been fears Mr Putin would nominate a Kremlin hawk: possibly a former FSB official in favour of more aggressive intervention in the economy. Instead, many analysts described Mikhail Fradkov as a neutral figure with little political personality of his own. "He looks like a fairly loyal administrator whose primary function is to follow the word of the Kremlin," said Roland Nash, chief strategist with Renaissance Capital in Moscow.

'Moderate liberal'. Alexei Volin, a former member of the presidential administration, expressed some concern that the president's nominee is such a political unknown. But like Mr. Putin, he stressed Mikhail Fradkov's experience in foreign trade and economics as a bonus. Others pointed-out that the EU envoy appeared free of any binding ties to a particular power-group, or political clan. They described him as a moderate liberal and as a reasonably acceptable figure for investors. But most Kremlin-watchers characterise Mikhail Fradkov as a civil servant above all. He is seen as a technocrat candidate for prime minister, who appears to have been chosen to play a quiet second fiddle to an increasingly powerful president.BBCNews/Wire.