The widely expected resignation of Rudd has finally occurred. The open contempt felt by most of his peers made this an inevitability. Rudd and Gillard have left the Labor party and the Australian economy far worse off than in 2007.

I wish them well, but hope that I have seen the last of them.

sm thanks for the memory's and the rant.
By now I have come to expect such from you,it is the best you can do.
History will be kinder to him, if not the 2010 knife handlers who now hold the reins of the party.

I gain hope in the clear and certain understanding no Government or its leader has and continues to shed its popularity as fast as our Tony,s mob.
*Electricity Bill* a new low in parliamentary behavior but worse is to come from a Woman who took just one day to enforce the view of many,she is a poisoned person unfit to hold any position not involving a mop and bucket.

Rudd resigns. The end of an error!

I’ve got to agree with that!

Its wonderful news! ( :>)

However, Labor has just moved right on into another error!

What a crying shame! They had the most excellent chance to pull their collective silly looking butts out of it.

Heaven knows we need Labor to be in a strong sustainability-oriented highly appealing position come the next election.

Because by then the Coalition error will in very bad need of termination!

Ohh… its all so sad! ( :>(

Tony Abbott and co won government by default. The Coalition has no vision for the future of Australia, they are very much in government what they were in opposition, a party of negativity. Unfortunately Australia will be poorer for their reign, ever how long that be.
Having said that, how does the alternative stack up, in my book, very poorly indeed. The Australia Labor Party is slowly but surely making itself irrelevant in Australian politics. Although the party has been damaged by the actions of criminals, people like Obeid in NSW and Thomson federally the problems goes much deep. Like their opponents Labor is lacking both on policy and vision, but worse still Labor lacks true leadership anywhere in Australia. In my state of NSW, John Robertson is a lame duck leader, in the other states Labor fairs no better. At the Federal level Bill Shorten will prove to be ineffective, like the second choice Anthony Albanese, Shorten is no visionary,nor is he a strong leader who can take command of the party, reform it, and return it to relevancy for the broader Australian community.
What Australia desperately needs is a strong third force in politics, and judging by the 'big two' there is much fertile ground for that third force to truly connect with the aspirations of the Australian voter. Considering that around 25% of people did not vote for Labor or Liberal and considering over 5% cast a vote for the buffoon Palmer, there is strong evidence of dissatisfaction in Australia with the present leadership on offer. The party best positioned to take advantage of this dissatisfaction in the long term is The Greens. With the necessary attributes of strong leadership, strong policy and strong direction The Greens can build on their already substantive base, broaden their constituency and replace the Labor Party as the alternative to the lackluster Conservatives now in office.

In the words of a pro Labor columnist:

"When he finally returned to the prime ministership, Gillard's term destroyed largely by Rudd's own sabotage, it was too late for Labor. Once again, the arguments will continue about how many seats he might have saved and whether he should have gone to the election quickly or waited, but Labor - the party that had swept to power on Rudd's popularity in 2007 - was soundly defeated.

Now Labor can put Kevin Rudd behind it and Rudd himself might get on with his life. But he leaves behind an astonishing trail of collateral damage: including former ministers Nicola Roxon, Simon Crean, Craig Emerson, Martin Ferguson, Greg Combet, Stephen Smith and Peter Garrett, and many staffers, bureaucrats and colleagues burnt out by Kevin Rudd's ambition, which burnt beyond his own capacity to control it."

The master of grand gestures and empty promises, the only good he did was make people remember how good it was under the coalition.

Well thank god for that. It is a pity he didn't do it 15 years ago. A huge number of Oz people are now, & well into the future, much worse off than they would have been, if he had never been seen, or born.

Do be careful there Luddy. Fearless forecasts, such as you have just made, along with those of most the lefties here, have a habit of turning out to be wishful thinking uttered in hope, & totally wrong. Best get used to Tony as PM, he is going to be there for a long time.

I wonder when KRudd will take up his UN appointment. Surely the UN will be rewarding him handsomely for doing so much damage to a first world country.