The apprentice

"I think it's reached a point where no advice, of itself, can turn things around," Arthur Sinodinos says matter-of-factly of the current situation with the Federal Government.

And as the former chief of staff of over ten years of one of the longest standing and successful Prime Ministers of Australia, John Howard, he should know. Described by the Australian Financial Review as one of the most powerful Greek Australians, Arthur Sinodinos is looking likely to become one of the most powerful Australians.

With his sudden desire to rejoin the Liberal Party and the politics game - as current New South Wales Liberal party president in a landslide win and touted as a shoo-in as one of the contenders for the Senate vacancy of Helene Coonan - Sinodinos has left political commentators wondering will he or won't he go for the top job?

"I take a layered view of this," says Sinodinos diplomatically.

"You serve your apprenticeship. You go in there, try and find your feet as a new member, as a Senator and then you work hard to make the maximum contribution you want to make. My view is that being an effective minister in an effective government is an important contribution in its own right and no government is effective simply because of the leader, even under John Howard." But from the National Australia Bank to all the of the sudden NSW Liberal Party president and now Senate in under three months, you can't help but wonder what

's really going on in Sinodinos's head with these hasty decisions? Is there more to it than meets the eye?

"I have been in and around the political process and the policy processes particularly at the Federal level for a long time and I reached a stage that I thought at the age of 54, if I don't have a go now I am letting it go completely.

"And I suppose, you jump in the deep end and hope that you float".

Sinodinos is a vessel of insider knowledge into how to run a successful Australian government. As Howard's right-hand-man, he watched a PM grow in strength-to-strength by staying steadfast and keeping a clear and concise message. He is the first to admit what made the Howard reign such a successful one was because it was a strong team and as a leader, Howard "brought out the best in his team".

For Gillard now, he sees a party unclear of their original message. A party broken, a party who need to implement damage control. He sees the only way to do this is to go back to basics for a government who seem to be falling down the political hole in the ground faster than Alice in Wonderland. But unlike Alice, for the current Labor government this dream is their reality.

The carbon tax hit the Australian population hard with their Prime Minister breaking an election promise and now with the asylum seekers issue, Julia Gillard's rating has hit an all-time low with political commentators suggesting her time is well and truly up, while Abbott's rating sky-rockets.

I asked Sinodinos, if he were chief of staff to the current Prime Minister of Australia, what would he advise her to do?

"When you are in a difficult situation," Sinodinos says of the issues facing the current Federal Labor party, "you have to first of all try and stop yourself going further and you have to try and turn yourself around by methodically working your way out of it so it no longer becomes an issue if you can and then move on to other issues where you have more of a natural advantage. Sometimes in politics the best tactic is to adopt the policies of your opponent and then move on."

"The problem the Prime Minister has got is her capacity to carry a message and whether she has the authority and credibility she has got with the public in carrying a message forward now, that's the issue. And no amount of advice can make up for that.

Sinodinos admits that Gillard's credibility has been under question for a long time now. He says this kind of controversy "weighs on people's minds" and turns something like the "climate change issue from an environmental issue to more of an issue of credibility and trust".

It's his simplistic and basic approach to party politics that make you wonder if he will be the most powerful Australian in the future, especially looking at this response to what Julia Gillard should do right now.

"What you say in those circumstances is firstly you stop digging yourself a bigger hole. So with something like the asylum seeker issue, you are better off trying to minimise, if you can, the damage of what's happened by essentially saying this has come to a dead end, this is now what we are going to do, we have a firm policy of doing x, y and z, even if that means replicating a previous coalition policy and enforcing that."

Sinodinos is currently contesting the position of the Senate and the outcome will be clearer after a preselection meeting on the 24 September.