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"We are from Australia. We are here to help." On the eve of the international climate change summit, as he basked in the glow of international attention and revelled in his status as a friend of the chair, Kevin Rudd was at the very top of his game, and at the height of his powers, when he sat for an interview with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and neatly reworked the line he had first deployed at his party's annual conference in 2007 for global consumption.

Back then, in the BC phase of prime ministership - Before Copenhagen - his re-election seemed a certainty. Australia had become the only nation to avoid recession after the global financial crisis. The Liberal opposition was in disarray. The talk was of a Rudd era that would stretch for a decade, a counterpoint to the Howard era of conservative rule.
Barack Obama had even let it be known that there was no international leader with whom he felt more comfortable, a gilt-edged presidential plaudit.

So the tumble of events which has led to his ouster from power has been extraordinary. In the end, he could not even muster enough support from his own party to contest the leadership ballot, which Julia Gillard was set to win with ease. The factional chiefs of the Australian Labor Leadership had decided that the party stood a better chance of winning the forthcoming election with the personable Gillard in charge. So, too, had she. Gillard, who had been steadfast in her loyalty for months, decided to make her move. She has long had the numbers to beat Kevin Rudd in the Labour caucus. As soon as she demanded a leadership contest - or a spill, as they are called here - Kevin Rudd knew that he would spend his last night in The Lodge, the prime ministerial residence.

A bungled home insulation scheme. Cost blow-outs in his school improvement programme. An angry battle with the resources sector over a super tax on their super profits which sparked a backlash, especially in the main resources states of Western Australia and Queensland.

But the pivotal moment surely came when Kevin Rudd shelved the emissions trading scheme. Having once described global warming as the greatest moral challenge of our time, back-flipping on his flagship policy was seen as an act of political cowardice. Gutless was the oft-heard complaint.

Other concerns started to crystallise and coalesce. His leadership style. His reluctance to consult. There were complaints about his intellectual arrogance and a speaking style which earned him the nickname the "Castro of the South Pacific". He had always been more popular with the Australian people than with his own party. It is not an exaggeration to say that some of parliamentary colleagues absolutely despise him.

Constantly fighting back tears, Kevin Rudd listed his legacy. The sorry to indigenous Australians. The ratification of the Kyoto protocol. Hospital reforms. A national curriculum in schools. As he struggled to contain his emotions, you got the feeling he was struggling to contain his frustrations: how could his party remove him from office?

For years - perhaps since his childhood - the prime ministership was the target of Kevin Rudd's ambitions. He has oft been accused of being robotic, emotionless and being fluent in Mandarin but not in English. But his farewell tears had their own eloquence - they spoke of his bitter disappointment at not getting to complete a job which he so dearly loved doing.

Others questions are thrown up. Is Australia ready for a female prime minister? The answer clearly is yes. Can Julia Gillard reverse the drop in the polls? Perhaps.

But let us dwell perhaps for one last time on Kevin Rudd. Was his party right to oust him?

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