Confidence begets confidence.

This is as true for politics as it is for air travel.

A prime minister who seems nervous around a particular issue is every bit as alarming, in her own way, as an airline pilot overheard - thanks to PA malfunction during extreme turbulence - in a tearful deathbed confession of love for his co-pilot, Brandon.

Both circumstances elicit the same, panicky response: "Who the hell is in charge here?"

Of the short, difficult prime ministerial career Julia Gillard has so far experienced, trepidation has been a constant.

The election was booby-trapped with issues that popular wisdom suggested she leave well alone.

You can almost hear the briefing now.

"Don't say too much about climate change, because it kind of killed Kevin, and there's definite traces of Gillard DNA on the trigger. Health? Argh! Don't talk about health! After that mob-cap national tour of emergency wards, it's Kevin's issue! And he's kind of pissed off at the moment. Population? For God's sake. Are you mad? It reminds people of overcrowding, and that reminds them of immigration, and that's ballot box botulism. Nope, you'd better just stick to the NBN. Whack an "e" in front of everything. See how you go."

In the end, the Gillard 2010 campaign consisted of what's left over once you've eliminated everything scary.

Which is why it's remembered for a discordant series of visuals, and not much else; Julia, bombing around Darwin Harbour in a patrol boat with a seriously lost Penrith MP.

Julia, sitting next to Kevin Rudd with all the ease and poise of a bomb disposal trainee.

"What's wrong with Julia Gillard?" people wondered aloud during the floods.

"She looks wooden."

Yeah - well. You'd look wooden too, if you had to spend every second reminding yourself of the billion-odd things you're not supposed to say out loud.

Things have changed lately, though.

For instance, the Government has started mentioning "multiculturalism".

Enough times for it not to be an accident, even though multiculturalism reminds people of immigration and immigration reminds them of boat-people, and so on.

Shadow immigration minister Scott Morrison's commentary on the Christmas Island funerals last week unlocked something in the Caucus, too.

For once, Labor found itself taking a stand it did not loathe itself for taking.

In attacking Morrison, some Caucus members exorcised the discomfort they felt about their party's mumbledrunk approach to asylum policy in the previous 12 months.

Chris Bowen declared himself morally unprepared to prevent an eight-year-old boy from attending his father's funeral (Okay: As a moral stance, it's not exactly a stretch. But the Caucus has been starved of unequivocal, even slightly courageous attitudes of late, and this, from Bowen, was something of a tonic).

Bowen mentioned multiculturalism again, in a memorable speech.

And on Tuesday night, the Muslim MP Ed Husic gave a speech which straightened many a Labor spine; it was about citizenship, and what it means, and who it includes.

"Who cares what it means for the polls?" one Labor MP declared rashly.

"It feels good to be defending something, and defending it for the right reasons."

For a party that for 10 years has had a deep, atavistic paranoia about immigration and race issues, these are substantial developments.

And the confidence has leached into other areas.

Gillard, Combet and Swan are prosecuting their climate change plans with vigour.

The Treasurer staged a defence of the mining tax in Question Time yesterday with an enthusiasm unseen for months.

The equation is still the same - it all stands a fair chance of going arse-up, but for the first time there's a sense that the fight's worth having, and having loudly rather than apologetically.

And on the other side of the House, it's the Opposition's turn to experiment with self-doubt.

It would be too extreme to say that the Coalition has been hiding Scott Morrison, exactly, but he's been on the bench every day in Question Time so far and on Monday night, when he was due to give a speech about the processing of asylum seekers, the Coalition attempted to take him off the program.

The Government, with its new bullishness, demanded that he speak.

And it was by no means a crazy or extremist speech; Morrison made the point, which is true, that the more boat arrivals we process onshore in Australia, the fewer applicants we can approve through the offshore humanitarian stream.

(Five years ago, we accepted 5,183 offshore applicants and 1,793 onshore applicants. Last year, the balance had reversed; 4,534 onshore, and 3,233 offshore. If genuine refugees make it to Australia's coastline, they demonstrably have a better chance at acceptance. And if this isn't a desperate equation for a desperate parent, then what is?)

But nervousness begets nervousness, just as confidence begets confidence.

Annabel Crabb is ABC Online's chief political writer.