Winning government is much like getting a new puppy. Kevin Rudd has begged, pleaded and made all the right promises about feeding it, walking it and being economically conservative when handing out the snacks. 

And yet getting the puppy is the easy part. The real test is when the carpet gets soiled. 

In keeping with the canine theme, losing government is like being sent to the pound. Your owners voted you out because you were too aggressive and prone to biting people; now all the fleas and deputies have started jumping ship. 

The days following the momentous 2007 election have proved even more dramatic than the event itself. Labor has burst out of the gates whilst their opposition, the governing body of Australia for the last decade, has imploded. Australia’s political landscape has changed almost beyond recognition. 

After achieving a staggering national two-party swing of 6 per cent, Rudd is making the right noises. The new Prime Minister has launched straight into implementing election promises and insists he will announce a cabinet tomorrow free from factional interests. 

However, the Kevin 07 love-in propelling Labor into government will now meet with the sobering dawn of reality and responsibility. Rudd has swept into office with some enormous crosses to bear and expectations to meet. The pressure on the Prime Minister and his cabinet will operate will be gargantuan. 

After a decade in opposition, Labor will undoubtedly prove a little rusty in the first few months of government and the hiccups will come under intense scrutiny. Mistakes made as the training wheels are prised off will be a little unsettling to a nation only just emerging from a cocoon of monotonous Liberal governance. 

Promises that sounded like shiny and appealing as ideas become cumbersome in actuality. Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol is an important symbolic commitment, but a little redundant considering a new international agreement will be debated in Bali in mere weeks. Voters that rejoiced at the end of their crippling AWA may be surprised to hear it will remain until it expires, which could be as late as 2012. 

Rudd now has the overwhelming majority of an enthusiastic electorate on his side, but the Coalition will remain in control of the Senate until July 2008. Political tensions will also continue on a state level, as, despite Rudd’s insistence to the contrary, blanket Labor governance does not automatically translate to sunny state-federal cooperation. 

If the months ahead look challenging for the new government, however, they are nothing compared to what is facing the opposition. The Coalition has dragged through some very dark days. 

The landslide rejection was devastating. Ex-Prime Minister John Howard became only the second in Australia’s history to lose his seat. As if this was not damaging enough, the man pumped as the future of the party turned his back. 

In his concession speech Howard mustered enough optimism to express hope for the future of the Liberal Party under the stewardship of Peter Costello. The next day however, the ex-Treasurer and Howard’s rival indicated the he would not pursue of accept the leadership.  

Costello pursued the leadership doggedly and publicly for almost the entire decade of Coalition rule. After numerous rebukes and some intense leadership questioning earlier this year, Howard chose to stay the course instead of giving his younger deputy a chance to steer the sinking Liberal ship away from disaster. He handed the leadership crown to Costello too late, bruised and battered and Costello declined.