THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM of old commenced with the question “Who made the world?” The answer was unambiguous: “God made the world.”

If the Australian Financial Review Magazine’s annual “Power” survey took the pedagogical form of a catechism it would begin with the following question: “Who controls Australia?” And the answer: “John Howard controls Australia”. Journalist Andrew Clark said as much when he started his article on “politics” in the October 2003 “Issues of Power” survey: “Prime Minister John Howard commands all he surveys … This is the consensus of The AFR Magazine‘s Power Panel’s review of the political scene seven-and-a-half years into John Howard’s prime ministership.”