Of course our memories are defective.... its the very nature of...

Of course our memories are defective.... its the very nature of memory to record only the facts, and the interpretation of facts, as we prefer to recall them..... which is why I love to refresh my memory with less biased recollections that I can muster.

Moonie, you're entitled to your view.... The fact is that all changes of leadership involve some degree of machination. Parties set their own rules for such transitions and, due to the natural development of factions, they are often decided using undermining incumbents to gain support for a transition. At least Keatings spills were out in the open and very public. ........ whereas the others in recent years have involved much more nefarious means.

The Rudd/Gillard machinations were a solid case in point where, following Rudd's comments causing a significant shift in his support, the factions went into number crunching and canvassing of positions to find an alternative leader. This was noted by the Journos for around 6 hours before the actual meeting between Gillard and Rudd.

Abbott's sniping at Turnbull in 2010 lasted over a long period of time, as journos reported, and we could all see that Abbott was aiming for the top job from the day Howard lost his seat. Abbott was closely mentored by Howard and Abbott thought he was the heir apparent and that Nelson shouldn't have won the leadership vote after Howard lost the election . ... This was the most egregious performance of any pollie in history, imo.