Maxine McKew was a great journalist, but her time in politics has been marked by naivety and hero worship for Kevin Rudd, against all the objective facts. As a Treasury official during the first eighteen months of the Government I  was very unimpressed by its chaotic approach to policy development, and I wasn’t shocked when the coup came and had indeed expected it sooner. Gillard, Swan and the other players were actually very patient with Prime Minister Rudd. The undeniable fact was that the Cabinet process had completely broken down and this led to very poor decision making – for example, the approval of one of Australia’s largest ever infrastructure projects, the National Broadband Network, with no cost-benefit analysis or public consultation. The more experienced and savvy members of the Government understand this well, so I don’t expect Rudd will ever return as Labor leader.