The implosion of Kevin07

Sure, we got snippets of his tirade on an oversees VIP flight when he abused an innocent flight attendant over the quality of her service; and we heard of the high turnover of his burnt out staffers who were forced to work inordinately long hours on their master’s grand plan for Australia.

Christopher Pearson, writing under the heading “Cabinet Found Government A Puzzle” (The Weekend Australian, July 2-3) highlighted Laura Tingle’s report from the Australian Financial Review several months earlier on the Strategic Priorities and Budget Committee (SPBC), or gang of four, when she said: “When ministers arrive for federal cabinet meetings, they find a folder waiting in their spots which they can look at but not take out of the room. Inside are decisions already taken by the cabinet’s expenditure review committee and ultimate power in the Rudd government, the Strategic Priorities and Budget Committee.”

The SPBC was comprised of Kevin Rudd, his deputy Julia Gillard, Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner - or the camarilla (Spanish term for Kitchen cabinet) as Christopher Pearson called them.

Good old Kevin07 was at his controlling best, working with a few, and excluding cabinet consensus: a sure recipe for disaster. All you budding office managers or business entrepreneurs out there, take note, menacing behaviour in the workplace is fraught with danger and is a sure pathway to imminent failure.

Even when the polls started their downward slide, especially after the back flip on the Emissions Trading Scheme and his bolshie position on the Mining Super Profits Tax, Kevin07 couldn’t possibly have foreseen the tsunami-like wave of opposition from voters and his own party that was about to wallop him out of his dream . How could he have seen it coming - with record polling only months earlier - there was no way his deck of cards could collapse before his very eyes.

When the polls continued to represent a bumbling Prime Minister who was rapidly sliding out of favour his colleagues acted swiftly, more out of fear of losing their own electorate standing than to follow blindly their leader who couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

When Julia Gillard announced she was contesting the ALP leadership on June 23 Kevin Rudd made one of his better speeches about what he would do if he won back party support. The level of passion displayed before a packed media gallery by Kevin07 on that bleak Canberra evening was sadly a little too late to win back his colleagues confidence and millions of adoring fans’ respect gained from his weekly appearance on their morning primetime show.

I left for work late the following morning, pleased that Kevin07 pulled out of the contest due to take place at 9am. The television commentators were getting inside information from party members that it was going to be a bloodbath for Kevin Rudd inside the party room. I’m just glad he did the honourable thing and stepped down graciously.

So what do we learn from the reinvention of a leader or superstar?

Perhaps superstars like Lady Gaga just take the knocks from critics on the chin and rise up with a newer and more raunchier film clip to out-shock her loyal band of followers. It seems to be working wonders for her as Poker Face, Paparazzi and now Alejandro, which has received scathing criticism from the Catholic Church, have all, in turn, increased her profile and bank balance.

By June 23 Kevin Rudd had exhausted all his tricks and image makeovers and what was left bare was the façade-free real Kevin Rudd, no longer Kevin07, but a top public office operative and controller who grew from a nerd at school to a bully boy in the big world of politics.

Oh - I almost forgot - he did say sorry to the Stolen Generation, but it’s a pity he didn’t follow up the apology with culturally appropriate policies that were adequately resourced and implemented by Indigenous people.

Let’s wait and see if our new Prime Minister, Julie Gillard, is genuinely committed to Indigenous affairs or whether we’ll see our mob consigned to the fringes of politics once again while the new PM chases yet another public makeover.

I honestly couldn’t see Julie Gillard in one of Lady Gaga’s cheeky outfits. But you never know what she might do if the polls take a turn for the worse!