Presidential visits may help Rudd

Kevin Rudd will try to reclaim political ascendency next month when he hosts a visit
by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, just weeks before the arrival of
US President Barack Obama.
The visits will be a welcome distraction for Mr Rudd, who has struggled to assert
his authority over the domestic debate since Tony Abbott seized the Liberal
leadership late last year.
Over the past few weeks, the coalition gaining ground in the opinion polls and two
senior ministers, Peter Garrett and Stephen Conroy, are in hot water.
After cancelling a visit last year, the Indonesian president will address federal
parliament in Canberra during a three-day trip beginning on March 9.
The visit will, however, come with problems of its own.
Relations between Canberra and Jakarta have been strained by the influx of asylum
seekers into Australian waters and the two nations have had difficulties nutting out
a regional people-smuggling deal.
Nevertheless, it will help shift attention from the Rudd government's domestic
problems and give the prime minister a chance to promote himself as an international
statesman.
Mr Rudd has tried to get Mr Abbott's measure but has been unsuccessful over the past
fortnight in diverting attention from his besieged ministers and problems in their
portfolios.
Mr Garrett, the environment minister, has had a turbulent time with the government's
$3.7 billion insulation rebate scheme and was defending another program in his
portfolio on Thursday.
After the strong criticism directed at its insulation scheme, the government has
promised to take industry advice on board following fire concerns about solar
photovoltaic panels.
An industry insider has warned about the possible fire risk associated with
improperly installed panels, but the Clean Energy Council doesn't know a single fire
caused by poor installation of the panels.
Since 2000, rebates have been available for households installing the panels but
demand blossomed after the Rudd government boosted incentives when it won
government.
Mr Rudd told reporters that the safety standards for the scheme had been in place
since the Howard years.
"What we will do is listen carefully to what industry has to say, take the advice of
the experts and respond accordingly," he said.
"I'm advised that the safety energy standards and installation guidelines under
these programs have been put in place for a long, long time."
The government was keen to make the point that the scheme was an initiative of the
former government but that didn't stop Mr Abbott taking it to task.
"Every day we learn of another disaster," he told reporters.
The opposition leader questioned whether Mr Garrett was running scared after he
cancelled a planned speech at the Australian National University on Thursday
morning.
No explanation was immediately available for his absence.
"I hope it's not just that he's running from the media," Mr Abbott said.
Later, Mr Garrett spoke to the media at Canberra airport before flying out for a
community cabinet meeting in Ballarat on Thursday evening.
The political debate will turn to matters economic on Friday when the Reserve Bank
governor Glenn Stevens appears before a parliamentary committee in Canberra.
The opposition intends to use the hearings to prosecute its argument that the
government stimulus package is putting upward pressure on interest rates.