BY ROBERT CATTO

A week is a long time in politics, and in life.

This time last week, we were in Canada, it was summer, the days were long - and we knew who was running the country back home in Australia.

Over the course of this week, we've spent 24h in transit, a week trying to adjust our internal clocks (finally with some success overnight); and 5 days watching our parliament being brought to a halt by internal struggles, and the party in charge attempting to choose a new leader - finally with some success overnight.

Every screen shouts the result; and everything around me seems to echo it. In the face of another turn to the right, towards blocking entry to those who don't 'share our values', it's harder to see the hopeful side, to look for the helpers.

And yet.

An election is less than a year away, and could be called at any time; summer is likely to be even closer than that.

Given how much can happen in a week...