Kevin Rudd returns as PM

Kevin Rudd, the man the Labor Party caucus vowed it could never work with again, has returned as Prime Minister of Australia. He's already up to his old tricks, keeping the nation waiting for more than 20 minutes until he delivered his acceptance speech. Can a leopard change its spots? I think not. His tardiness and micromanaging is notorious

According to a Roy Morgan snap poll on Wednesday 26 June, the night of the coup, the vote is now ALP 49.5%, vs Liberal-National Party 50.5% -- too close to call an election result, the pollsters say.

I am deeply ashamed to say the man who ratted on Julia Gillard is my local member, Bill Shorten. He swung the numbers. In end, the stage managed result came out as predicted -- 57 for Rudd, 45 for Gillard, with Anthony Albanese as deputy PM. Albanese, who always looks close to tears at big moments, is from the Left, while Rudd is from the Right. Penny Wong, who is also from the Left, was elected unanimously as government Senate leader -- figure that one out.

Many non Australians find it hard to understand Australian politics because the positions of both major parties are almost identical. As I tell my American friends, there is no equivalent to Republican Party in Australia, just the Labor Party, which is liberal, and the Liberal Party, which is liberal. Both would  fit into the US Democratic Party quite comfortably.

Numerous politicians commenting on the Rudd coup went on about the "life of service" that draws people to politics. I have known politicians since I was in my early teens. Politicians have an agenda to push or an organisation to represent. That is not service, it is self interest. Labor people are by far the worst when it comes squealing about their life of service, I don't see any of them returning their very generous taxpayer funded  pensions.

Chief executioner was Bill Shorten. First he put Kevin Rudd in power, then knifed him to put Julia Gillard in power. Then he knifed Julia to return Kevin to power, just in time for Kevin to take leadership of the G20, which will surely be a highlight of Kevin's life. Not that Julia is beloved, even by her own constituents. The reporter for the government broadcaster, the ABC, seemed near tears when no Gillard supporters would go on camera to say what a lovely lady we was, while several residents said she was not much of a local member and wasn't well liked.

My wife, who is an immigrant, told me to write that after viewing almost an entire evening of Kevin's coup she has concluded that politicians have no idea of how ordinary people like us -- that is, electors -- think. She says Australians are good at playing politics, except that it is like an audience watching clowns. "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."    

As for the hatchet man, Bill Shorten, will we see him in years to come roaming the arid halls of New Parliament House like Lady Macbeth  muttering "Out, damned spot! Hell is murky! Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" Or her. Or both. Who next will feel Bill's blade? And they say this man will be prime minister one day.