Rudd ridden out of town

Kevin Rudd is gone and the Labor task now is to convince voters that Julia Gillard, his closest partner in so many policy and political escapades, would make a different Prime Minister.The party will have to somehow draw a line between Rudd and Gillard, and not just a distinction based on style. Fat chance. To repeat: If Kevin Rudd has made clunky decisions over the past six months, so has Julia Gillard. 
Even the appeal of supporting Australia’s first female Prime Minister will not be enough to save the Labor government at the election, just as the first woman Premier in NSW won’t save Labor there.
In fact, voters will find it hard to distinguish between the NSW Labor mess and the federal one.
Some of the same characters created both.
It is Tony Abbott’s most private dream come to fruition, and the Opposition Leader can thank NSW right manager Mark Arbib, old-school Australian Workers’ Union chief Bill Ludwig, and new chum Labor MPs Bill Shorten (a former AWU national secretary) and union mate David Feeney.
One signature element of this coup is that almost all senior ministers were too busy doing their jobs to be involved in the plotting. It was a revolt from below decks.
Another is that we now have the bizarre spectacle of the ALP right and trade union right joining to elevate the Boadicea of the Labor left, Julia Gillard.
A strength of the Rudd government has been its stability.
Just one minister has moved to the back bench in two and a half years. There have been three delicate controversies involving MPs, including Belinda Neal, which have ben quietly resolved.
By comparison, the Liberals are into their third leader since the November, 2007 election. Then there was the fourth leader, Peter Costello, who decided he didn’t want to lead the party.
That asset of stability and unity of purpose was surrended last night, and with it Kevin Rudd’s job.