Kevin '07

I can't let the occasion of our first Monday without Howard at the helm pass without comment. I am thrilled that we finally have the change of government we have needed for so long and I dearly hope, like so many others, that Kevin Rudd doesn't stuff up this opportunity.

I'm kicking myself, actually, that I didn't place a bet at a bookmakers 9 years ago. Kevin was my local member in Brisbane back then; he struck me as an unusually principled and pro-active politician, and I predicted that he would be our prime minister within 10 years. He did it with a year to spare.

What odds would I have got on that?

Anyone who thinks that he is just a carbon copy of Howard is not looking beyond the glasses and the dorky demeanour. I think he is going to have on-going conflict between what he would like to do, based on his own beliefs and values, and what the party machine and the behind-the-scenes powers-that-be will permit him to do (no conspiracy theory...pure pragmatism) but as world leaders go, he is not a bad man to have at our head. I hope he can work some serious changes in the "me-first" economic and social culture that has erupted under the Howard regime, and take us somewhere better suited to the Australian values of mate-ship and a fair go for all.

And (no offense to my American friends) I really hope he can extract us from the depths of George W. Bush's arse (where little Johnnie Howard sunk us), and put us in a more balanced and neutral position on the world stage...!