Howard goes hunting with Cheney CWI

[DrJJKelsey]

note: CWI = cliched what-if
Ok, let's just say that on September 10th, 2001, Dick Cheney takes John Howard, who has recently arrived in the US from Australia hunting down at the Armstrong ranch in southern Texas, where, (as in OTL would occur five years later) Mistaking him for a giant garden gnome, Cheney accidentally shoots him in the chest. Unfortunately, Howard is declared DOA due to cardiac arrest at Christus Spohn Hospital. Australia mourns it's fallen Prime Minister, and on September 11th at 6am AEST Peter Costello is sworn in as Australia's 26th Prime Minister by Governor General Peter Hollingworth at Yarralumla in Canberra. In part due to a massive Political sex scandal involving Beazley, Latham, a marijuana cigarette, and a short length of garden hose, the Liberal-National Coalition goes on to win 89 seats in the house of representatives in the Federal election of January 10th 2002 (which Costello had postponed), trouncing Kim Beazley's Labor Party, while also grabbing a large majority in the senate. unsurprisingly, two of the seats lost to Labor are Brand, WA and Werriwa, NSW, the seats held by Beazley and Latham. ignoring any possible implausibility of such events occurring, how would it impact the future course of events up until the Combet Labor election victory in January of 2008?
Keep in mind that Costello was one of the most liberal members of the LP.