It's been a quiet week on the political front with the Prime Minister away at APEC, though the honour of being the first new minister to open anything probably went to Gerry Brownlee who opened the Pikes River coal mine.

But maybe away from the cameras and questions there was something going on.

To see the video click on one of the links below.

| Windows Media

John Key's first Cabinet was sworn in this week, taking the oath, accepting the baubles of office and the swarms of briefing papers.

Some of those meeting around the cabinet table have seen it all before, albiet not for a while, for others it was like the first day of school; all new and worthy of a few tears.

Our woman in the Beehive was there when the first bell rang.

To see the video click on one of the links below.

It's back to business for the political animals. The political animals, including more than 30 new ones have been in Wellington repositioning themselves into a new Government and Opposition.

Jane Clifton went along to watch.

To view this video click on one of the links below.

Flash | Windows Media

There are now only five more days of campaigning to go then babies, workers on smoko and shopping mall customers will be able to go about their business confident they will no longer be baled up by any passing politician ready to offer a photo opportunity to a trailing media pack.

Suburban lawns will lose their billboard arrays and some of our political animals will go back to their Koro lounges and Wellington apartments while others will disappear into obscurity.

Jane Clifton looks at what they got up to last week.

To see this week's video click on one of the links below.

Flash | Windows Media

Remember the iwi-Kiwi billboards last election? The writing on the billboards is much tamer this election campaign.

But the political animals still need to brand themselves with signs, logos and stunts as the Listner's political columnist Jane Clifton reports.

In many ways the "real" election campaign is not where Helen Clark and John Key are.

For good old fashioned hand to hand political combat you need to go and spend some time with the minor parties as they struggle with low budgets, name recognition and a lack of attention from the media.

Their's can be a lonely task , which makes it all the more important that they dream up new ways to attract attention.

Jane Clifton has been observing the Political Animals crying "Look at me".

Click on one of the links below to view the video.

Flash | Windows Media

The formal election campaign begins on October 12 with the major parties holding their official openings.

But in the week leading up to it the political animals have been on the campaign trail and Jane Clifton has been keeping a watch on them.

Click on one of the links below to see Political Animals.

Flash | Windows Media

The Political Animals are off on the campaign trail, well, sort of.

In fact it's looked a lot like a phoney war this past week.

And looking at John Key and his apparent "What...me worry?" approach to the election you might have thought there wasn't an election at all.

So Jane Clifton's been trying to find whether anybody is actually campaigning.

Click on one of the links below to view this week's video.

Flash | Windows Media

It's over--this Parliament has finished sitting and will not meet again till sometime in December after the election.

That means of course that some, possibly many, of the Political Animals will have changed.

Some have planned to go. Others of course have yet to learn their fate.

But for those who went voluntarily there was a chance to say good-bye and Jane Clifton was there to wave them off.

To see this week's ideo click on one of the links below.

Flash| Windows Media

It may still be seven weeks to the election but the political animals have already been out on the campaign trail. Our political zoologist has been observing their posturing and ritual mating dances.

To see this week's Political Animals click on one of the links below.

Flash| Windows Media

Spare a thought for our MPs. While the political leaders and the media were pre-occupied with Owen Glenn and WInston Peters at the privileges committee ordinary Parliamentary business continued a few hundred meters away in the debating chamber.

So maybe the political animals thought no one was taking any notice as they journeyed off on any number of tagents.

Not so,as usual one reporter was there-Jane Clifton.

To see this week's Political Animals click on one of the links below.

Flash| Windows Media

Jane Clifton takes a look at the week in politics and the not-so-urgent antics of the politicians when Parliament went into "urgency" to work on the ETS legislation.

Each week on Wednesday afternoon Parliament's back benchers get five minutes of fame when they get their chance to speak in the general debate. And the Political Animals treat it as a very general debate. More or less anything goes.

Last Wednesday Jane Clifton went along to watch.

The MPs are on holiday, or recess as they like to call it, though Labour's caucus held a council of war on Tuesday last week to try and figure out how they might win the election.

That was the meeting that even Parekura Horomia walked to as a gesture no doubt directed at Labour voters thinking of straying to the Greens as the energy crisis continues.

Tracking the Political Animals was Jane Clifton. Here's her report.

The New Zealand Herald's political columnist John Armstrong says Helen Clark has become obsessed with destroying John Key's credibility.

As if to vindicate him she was at it again claiming Key was an unknown quality who had made alot of money but no one knew what he did.

But as Jane Clifton found when she watched the Political Animals in Parliament last week it seemed as thought politics was all about personalities and issues had gone out the window.

While heads of state globally are working frantically to find solutions to the international oil crisis, a lot of the talk from New Zealand politicians this week has been about little plastic boxes.

That and glossy photographs of American families.

Jane Clifton has uncovered this baring-of-teeth over recycling schemes and promotional pamphlets in this week's "Political Animals".