I've seen "trust" and "truth in government" described as issues in Saturday's election. As I said yesterday, I think "propriety" is numero uno. John Howard and his government have a long track record of impropriety which, if you or I behaved like that, would have us sacked by our boss. Please remember on Saturday, that we are John Howard's boss. Sack him.

There are more issues to consider, of course. Even if we have made up our minds not to vote Liberal or National, there's still the small matter of choosing an alternative - Labor, Greens, Democrat, Family First, Socialist Alliance, One Nation, Christian Democrats, Liberals 4 Forests, The Fishing Party, et cetera et cetera.

I just wanted to set out, as concisely as possible, my expectations of any government of this country, divided into the two broad realms of global and domestic:

Global issues: Australia needs to be a good global citizen.

• We should respect the wishes of the United Nations.
• We should participate in all international treaties.
• We should respect the authority of the International Criminal Court.
• We should maintain a balanced relationship will all nations. The United States is one highly populated, financially prosperous nation, but is not the most important country on Earth, and should not have undue influence over us. Among the more populous nations, relationships with China, Indonesia, India and Japan are more important to us.
• We should not go to war except in self-defence or where asked for help and the UN agrees.
• We should provide our fair share of foreign aid.
• We should do all we can to deter the production and deployment of weapons of mass destruction by all nations and extra-national organisations.
• We should accept that the "war on terror" is an invalid concept, and do more to understand the motivations that drive those extra-national groups who want to attack Australian interests. This is not meant to stop us from eliminating and bringing to justice those extra-national groups who threaten our interests, rather to tackle the problem in a more intelligent, less gung ho manner.
• We should do our utmost to preserve the world's environment, including and by no means limited to abiding by the Kyoto Protocol.
• We should treat refugees and asylum-seekers with humanity and respect.
• We should wholeheartedly participate in programs aimed at alleviating third world poverty and disease.
• We should abide by, and respect, the Geneva Conventions.

Part 3 will focus on the domestic issues.