Everybody wants to be green in the new political environment

Then the Federal Court threw its own feral cat among the policy pigeons, upholding Greens senator Bob Brown's challenge to the lawfulness of logging operations in Tasmania's Wielangta State Forest.

The full ramifications of that ruling remain to be seen, including for the forestry industry nationally, but at a minimum some new year deal looks likely between Howard's feds and Lennon's Labor.

Raising the obvious question: will Rudd keep stapling himself to Howard over Tassie trees, and end up doing a kind of Tampa?

Not necessarily. Rudd has three big things in his favour. First, Australian filmmaker George Miller, whose new animated blockbuster Happy Feet looks like keeping Gore's enviro-ball bouncing, this time with real singalong pizzaz.

Second, Peter Garrett. It's too easy, and early, to write him off as a player consumed and corrupted by his ambitions, and to draw analogies with Philip Ruddock's shifting sticking points on human rights.

Garrett has nous, plus non-party networks to die for, including in every conceivable shade of green. Rudd can and should use both to maximum and genuine advantage, not just to craft a better way forward in Tasmania, but also to exploit federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell's pre-Christmas about-face on Victoria's Bald Hills wind farm, and beyond.

Third, that bulging pile of job applications sitting in the opposition leader's in-tray. Great resources. Don't waste them.