Kevin Rudd became prime minister in 2007 after toppling conservative John Howard from office. Howard had been PM for 11 years and had presided over a period of stability and record growth – thanks mostly to the fact that China just loved buying our dirt.

Rudd won power by acting like John Howard-lite. From the centre-left, Rudd presented himself as a God-fearing Christian and economic conservative. He was fun and folksy and people just loved him.

He did some good things like apologising to Australia's Indigenous Stolen Generation and finally acting on climate change after years of Howard's intransigence.

But then the GFC came and the shit hit the fan. Rudd spent billions of dollars stimulating the economy. It worked, but there was also plenty of waste, and some of the stimulus schemes ended with young workers dying. We also suddenly found ourselves in debt.

As things got a bit shaky Rudd made a fatal error. He abandoned his strong stance on climate change, which he once called "the great moral challenge" of our time. The polls went south, his party got nervous, and they started looking around for an alternative.