Even by the standards of a sports-mad country in which politics is a blood-sport, the events have been extraordinary and the bloodletting continues. At last count, the prime minister, deputy prime minister-cum-treasurer, and six other Cabinet ministers had moved to the backbench.
There is a sense of schadenfreude in that Kevin Rudd has done to Julia Gillard what she had done to him three years ago. Much of the instant online comment ran along the lines of: "Gillard got what Gillard gave — karma at its finest." There is also a sense of voters having been cheated of the opportunity to boot out Gillard with grim vengeance. And there is a sense of deja vu at Rudd redux: who would have thought the young man to have so many lives in him?
Had Gillard proven a competent manager and skillful politician, Australians might be celebrating her successes instead of being busy the past few months oiling their baseball bats to use on election day, which could not come soon enough.