Peter Slipper, the Liberal Party defector, has opted to wear a robe for his role as Speaker. No matter how much pomp and ceremony he surrounds himself with, however, it will not automatically produce respect from his fellow parliamentarians.

Respect has to be earned. It's not found in the accoutrements of office, as Billy Snedden found when he dressed in lace and looked a complete fool as Speaker. So when Slippery Pete arrives in the chamber next week at the end of a newly-revived mini-procession, he should keep an ear out for snickering.

And let's not pretend for one nanosecond that Labor respects him. For the government, he is a means to an end, an MP in his last term who took the baited hook to achieve the ambition of clambering into a prestigious position. Having shunned the Liberal Party, he will not be its candidate at the next election and will be defeated if he chooses to stand as an independent rather than retire as gracefully as possible.

But there is a hope for Slipper. At the end of a controversial career, why should he give a toss what anybody thinks? That could be good for the running of Parliament. Already he has exerted his authority against both sides of politics, and further displays of his baritone-laden orders might reduce the schoolyard antics.

In Thursday's question time, he ruled that Gillard would be heard in ''complete silence'' as she faced questions about the Fair Work Australia's investigation into Labor MP Craig Thomson. And silence there was - although she ducked a direct answer on whether she would reveal correspondence from her office about the affair.

(Tony Abbott is leaving the running on Thomson to his team, mindful of Labor's tag that he is too negative.)

Slipper might surprise the nation. If he can run question time with an even hand, he will be forgiven the eccentricity of the pomp and ceremony - but the wig would still be going too far.

His promotion was offered by Gillard to help Labor stay in office. Her team welcomed this long-awaited break over Abbott, and now have something else to celebrate - the change in the PM's performance.

Even if her anger was confected, it was a pleasing result for her backbench when she claimed she was disgusted that Abbott was linking the carbon tax to probable job losses at Alcoa's Geelong aluminium smelter.

It was critical that Gillard looked and sounded like a confident leader as Parliament opened for the year, with Kevin Rudd's supporters stirring unrest in caucus and Abbott claiming the PM was playing the ''sexism card because she sees the endgame coming''.

Rubbish. Gillard has never played on her gender for sympathy. She has rejoiced in the system that allows her to be the nation's first female PM. In order to fully appreciate this achievement, one has to ignore the ambush of Rudd and her promotion by factional leaders.

Gillard agreed to an interview with Mike Willesee, knowing questions would revolve around gender. ''You're a woman, would it be easier if you were a man?'' he asked. ''Are you an emotional person when you go home? ... Do you cry much?''

Would these questions even have crossed his mind in an interview with Paul Keating or John Howard?

As Gillard pointed out, voters are still coming to terms with its first female Prime Minister and many imagined the Prime Minister to be ''a bloke in a suit''. But: ''I don't actually recall there being constant demands for them [Bob Hawke and Paul Keating] to show more personality,'' she says.

Undoubtedly, the commentary about her hairstyle and clothes will continue. Bob Brown is taking upon himself, as Gillard's partner in the minority government, to defend her against male, middle-aged commentators in the media (like me) for allegedly making misogynist comments about the PM. Plenty of female commentators have felt the need to write about what they see as the PM's failures, too, such as her silly promise to show the ''real Julia''.

However, Gillard is adept at deflecting inane questions about gender politics or her feelings. ''I don't view it as my job to be there emoting, I'm a very calm person, I take life as it comes, I'm a very stable person, I don't easily get knocked off course,'' she shot back to Willesee.

And she was noticeably more assertive towards press gallery journalists, slapping one down for ''lazy talk'' and another for ''completely ridiculous'' arguments. This brings to mind her statement that if journalists don't want to be criticised, they should not write crap.

Straight talking by politicians is always refreshing. That's the reason Team Gillard is happier this weekend, after watching her performance in question time.

After setting the ''new economy'' as the key agenda item for the year, she is ramping up the power and the passion. Hence the aforementioned ''disgusting'' example of Abbott scaremongering about jobs.

Her positioning is significant on two fronts. She is taking control of the economic debate, over and above Wayne Swan's efforts, and is turning the focus to blue-collar workers.

Workers in the manufacturing and finance sectors have reason to be worried - at least 3700 positions have been axed this year alone. Manufacturing has been losing jobs steadily, despite the Government propping up the ailing motor vehicle companies with huge taxpayer-funded subsidies.

This has hurt Labor badly, with its position further undermined by its inability to curb Abbott's relentless campaign. He has visited dozens of factories, going into Labor's heartland to preach to blue-collar workers that their jobs are in peril because of the carbon tax.

Another problem is that while Australia's economy is the envy of the world, voters are taking that for granted. They are not listening when Swan insists people should be grateful that Labor kept Australia out of the worse effects of the global financial crisis.

Now Labor is alive to Abbott's campaign of targeting the Government where it hurts. Gillard is strongly injecting herself in the debate and declaring she is ''all ears'' about protecting the jobs of vehicle manufacturing workers who dropped in for a chat. Her argument has been made easier because Abbott is determined to reduce subsidies to car makers.

With just a small shift in one poll, Gillard appears to have regained her mojo. Now she has to regain the respect of the entire caucus, as Rudd circles.

Anyone who doubts the not-so-subtle campaign should review his performance after the church service to kick off the parliamentary year. He could have chosen to stop and declare he didn't want the prime ministership back. Instead he put on the trademark grin and walked on.

The leadership speculation died away during the week, as Rudd's supporters hoped, but will be back on centre stage in Monday's edition of Four Corners.

Gillard Ramps Up Power & Passion