One word 'super' changed Australian history. When Rudd was PM, he wanted to tax the Excess Profits that billionaire miners made.
He called it a 'Super Tax' that many voters thought meant a tax on superannuation savings. Hence his plunge in popularity that Julia exploited for a power grab. As PM, Julia was a big spender on social programs but was inept at raising revenue. She needed a quick negotiating success (to be unlike Rudd) but the Big Miners played hard-ball. She caved in and the excess mining profits tax only got $200 million not the projected $2 billion in revenue.
The problem was: Julia had committed $2 billion (she didn't have) to her social programs. Rudd was right in playing Hard Ball with filthy rich billionaire miners. They played Julia like a fiddle.
Rudd's big mistake was to call his excess mining profits tax a 'super' tax which confused voters. One word as his undoing.
