Howard, Costello keep safe distance

Mr Howard will not be attending a gala thank-you dinner for Mr Costello in Melbourne on Friday night. And Mr Costello will miss next Wednesday's extravaganza for Mr Howard in Parliament's Great Hall.

Through a spokesman, Mr Howard declined to give a reason for not attending Mr Costello's sellout event which will be attended by more than 600 people.

But the former prime minster "sent his best wishes to the host" and "hopes the dinner is a successful one", the spokesman said.

Mr Costello will miss Mr Howard's event, also a sellout, because he is travelling to the American state of Virginia.

The former treasurer will be a guest speaker at a conference entitled "The New Financial Architecture: A Global Summit".

Yesterday's resumption of Parliament shed no new light on whether he intended to take over the Liberal leadership or resign as he indicated last November.

His former cabinet colleague Nick Minchin told ABC radio yesterday he thought Mr Costello would leave. "Peter Costello said at the time of the last election that it was his intention to move into a life after politics and I took him at his word … that he will indeed be leaving politics."

The Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, is privately confident Mr Costello will leave and during the swearing in of the Senate yesterday, the pair sat together and chatted amicably.

Any departure by Mr Costello would clear the way for a challenge against Dr Nelson by Malcolm Turnbull.

But the Liberal frontbencher Tony Abbott said the Coalition needed to be patient with Dr Nelson. "He's doing a good job under difficult circumstances and the last thing we want to do is develop a tradition of knifing our leaders."

During yesterday's party room meeting, Dr Nelson took some heat from Nationals' MPs who want him to support the Government's proposed trial of guest fruit pickers from the Pacific.