Three years, three days ago Kevin Rudd was torn down ruthlessly as prime minister. Despite his erratic behaviour, inability to see through policies and wasteful spending, it was an event many Australians, and the world, saw as an act of great disloyalty. A political moment that caused great embarrassment to the public followed by a hung-parliament not long after, where three independents voted in a prime minister we weren't sure we wanted.
Since the 'backstabbing' of June 24, 2010 the joke that is Australian politics began to really acquire the laughs.
Julia Gillard swore she would not introduce a carbon tax under her leadership then blatantly fought for its inclusion not long after being sworn in. Wayne Swan vehemently promised a return to surplus by 2012/2013 and would do so by introducing an ill-thought out super-profits tax on the mining industry that accumulated little money and saw Australia remain in deficit by his self-imposed due date. Labor then supported two sex-scandals for their own good, Craig Thompson and speaker Peter Slipper.
And of course, the biggest joke of all continued to run, the Gillard-Rudd leadership contention, despite reaching many moments where the leaders and party declared it would be resolved "once and for all."
"No way will I ever be party to a stealth attack on a sitting PM. We all know when that happened it was wrong, and should not happen again," Kevin Rudd states February 22nd 2012.
Two days later, 24 February 2012 Kevin Rudd contests the leadership, loses, resigns as foreign minister and promises he will not contend again.
And now yet again, here we are, another leadership contention, more spiteful words, contradictions and backstabbing from the Labor party on a whole, and now Rudd is PM again. A man enamoured by his own celebrity.
"Rightly or wrongly, Julia has lost the trust of the Australian people, and starting on Monday I want to start restoring that trust.
"I want to finish the job the Australian people want me to do after I was elected by them as prime minister. I was elected in 2007 to govern for all Australians to govern for all families, and that's what we did.
"The government's problems have been of its own making. If I didn't exist, people would have cast around for an alternative leader for the Labor Party."
Why, how modest of you to admit Kevin. But even if you, the political messiah, did not exist Labor would still be in trouble.
Yes, now instead of infighting for the coveted power position, we have a leader who has created a mirage of self-importance, a man whose very colleagues who have now voted him in, once voted him out, once declared him as a micro-manager with a temper and a man who cannot play as a team. What does this say about the parties' stability and culture as a whole?
Now I ask, as we move into this golden era of politics, which Rudd would have you believe we're entering under his guidance, how can the global community trust in the Australian government?
How could the likes of David Cameron, Barack Obama, John Key and Xi Jinping confidently work with a leader, a party and a government that has proven it is nothing but unstable and untrustworthy?
How can Australia command respect if the topic of most importance over the last three years surrounds who gets the power?
Australian politics has suffered an immense loss in credibility, the Australian public is embarrassed and no matter who wants to call themselves prime minister, Labor is about to suffer a well due beating at the next election.
"We are on course for a catastrophic defeat unless there is a change," Rudd declared before today's leadership contention.
Oh Mr Rudd, how right you are. But you have no idea. The change we need is not you and it is not Labor.