Friends, in a dramatic twenty-four hour period, Kevin Rudd, Australia’s Prime Minister was replaced by Julia Gillard, the Deputy Prime Minister, the woman shown touching his hand.

It came about because Kevin’s popularity, which had been sky-high, had plummeted and there was real fear in the Labor Party (the equivalent of the Conservatives in America) that they might lose the election due in a few months to the Liberal Coalition (Australia’s equivalent to the pro-business Republican Party in the States).

Kevin Rudd held his last press conference yesterday and I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried. Here was  a man who had been completely crushed by the events of the morning. He cried his way through the conference as he listed his achievements, not uncontrollable blubbering, but tears continued to course down his cheeks and he had to stop five or six times to bring himself under control. It was a moving scene.

Kevin Rudd did not deserve such a fate. Sure, he was deeply flawed (like most of us) and was largely responsible for his own downfall. But he did have a humanitarian streak and he meant well. Where he came undone was an inability to put his ideas into practice. Also he tried to be a one-man show and he put people into positions that they couldn’t carry out. Politics is a ruthless, unforgiving, hard game.

The memory of his last press conference will stay with me forever, the memory of his face etched with hurt and deep pain. It shows how cruel life can be, how unforgiving. And, of course, it shows how cruel humans can be to their own kind.

Julia, who is well liked, will make an excellent Prime Minister and will surely win the coming election unless Murdoch and his Fox News outlets bring her down.

That chance must be stopped otherwise the rich will run the show again!