FLYING HIGH: Mr Rudd has been given an extraordinary mandate to take Australia into the future. His Labor Party has won more than 53 per cent of the vote. -- AFP

Imbued by what could be a 23-seat majority and a 6 per cent swing to Labor in Saturday's general election, Mr Rudd outlined 100 days of action which would address education, health and industrial relations issues, as well as climate change.

'This is a substantive agenda of work - everyone's going to have their hands well and truly full,' he said.

'You will see us methodically work through our programme for government,' he told reporters.

Clearly encouraged by his strong mandate, Mr Rudd, 50, revealed that he would decide the shape of his Cabinet and not the Labor factions which traditionally choose their favourites for the top ministerial positions.

'I will be determining the ministry myself - that's entirely appropriate,' he said.

'My intention is for the parliamentary party to meet this Thursday and to have the ministry sworn in soon after that,' he said, but did not elaborate.

In an early sign of the new government's environmental stance, he met top civil servants to discuss Australia's position at next month's UN climate conference in Bali.

The Labor leader had earlier pledged to sign the Kyoto protocol, if elected.

He received congratulatory messages from world leaders, including US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Mr Rudd emphasised the importance of the US alliance in Australian foreign policy and expressed his desire to visit the United States next year.

As Australia took stock of its new government, the elation felt by Labor supporters was in sharp contrast to the pain being suffered by Mr John Howard's losing Liberal-National Coalition, which was plunged into even greater chaos last night, after deputy Liberal leader Peter Costello announced he would not be standing for the leadership.

The surprise move by Mr Costello, who has been Treasurer for the past 111/2 years, followed the near certainty that Mr Howard would lose his seat in the Sydney constituency of Bennalong.

With only postal votes still to be counted, Mr Howard, 68, is expected to be beaten by former television personality Maxine McKew.

He would be only the second Australian prime minister to lose his seat while in office.

Mr Costello's decision raises the question of who will lead the badly beaten Liberals now that its two war horses are poised to leave the political stage.

Only one contender, Mr Malcolm Turnbull, has so far thrown his hat into the ring.

A former merchant banker and lawyer, who took on the British government in the infamous Spycatcher case in the l980s and won, was one of the few members of the Liberal Party to enjoy strong support in Saturday's polls.

As for Mr Howard himself, he spent yesterday licking his wounds at the Prime Minister's official residence, Kirribilli House, which overlooks Sydney harbour.

Despite a late night, he rose early for his routine morning walk, but declined to answer questions from reporters and spent the rest of the day out of public view.

Mr Rudd said he would give Mr Howard all the time he needed to move out of his harbour-side home.

rogmaynard@compuserve.com