Kevin Rudd was repudiated and excoriated by his own Labor Party. Then rejected and scorned by the Australian people. He was the leader of a chaotic and inept government.
Chief among his failures was throwing open Australia's borders to the people smugglers and subsequent influx of 50,000 illegal maritime arrivals (IMAs).
Now Rudd seeks to rewrite history and the colleagues who once denounced him now praise him. Unfortunately for Rudd, for Labor and for Bill Shorten – the facts are stark.
To recount – there were four – 4 – illegal maritime arrivals in detention when Labor came to power in 2007. None of them were children.
Rudd then bowed to Labor's hard core Left. He abolished the Pacific Solution – then Labor Immigration Minister Chris Evans said he was "absolutely proud of that". Labor then abolished Temporary Protection Visas.
As the boats re-started Rudd blames world events for the flow of illegal maritime arrivals – nothing, of course, to do with his inept government. In fact global flows of displaced people have risen in recent years during the Coalition's term of Government, yet the Coalition has guaranteed Australia's border security and increased refugee intakes through our Humanitarian Programmes.
After 800 boats, 50,000 illegal arrivals and at least 1,200 deaths at sea, the opening and filling of an additional 17 detention centres, with more than 8,000 children in detention and an $11 billion Budget blowout – a panicked Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd re-instituted Regional Processing Centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Rudd now claims this was to be "for one year only". How then does he explain the agreement would be "subject to annual review"? Only an ongoing arrangement would require annual review.
Rudd claims Labor increased the humanitarian intake – what he doesn't tell Australians is that a significant part of that increase were IMAs. The illegal boat arrivals were taking places that would normally have been granted under Australia's official Special Humanitarian Programme.
Rudd, as usual, is totally disconnected from reality.
The Coalition has stopped the boats, ended the deaths at sea, removed children from detention, closed 17 detention centres and continues to clean up Labor's mess.
Bill Shorten apologised for Labor's border failures and constantly told voters at the last election that Labor was in lock-step with the Coalition on border protection.
"There is a unity ticket to defeat the people smugglers." – Bill Shorten – Hobart – 27 April 2016.
"…both Mr Turnbull and I are on a unity ticket." – Bill Shorten – Melbourne – 29 April 2016
In 2013 Kevin Rudd asserted that no-one who came to Australia illegally by boat from 19 July that year would ever settle here. Bill Shorten has repeated that position consistently.
Next week Bill Shorten will have the opportunity to show whether Labor has learned from the Rudd era by supporting Coalition legislation to ensure that those IMAs who did come illegally by boat post mid 2013 will never settle here.
Alternatively his failure to support the legislation will show that his leadership is beholden to his Left-wing deputy Tanya Plibersek and the rest of the looney Left and that a future Labor Government will repeat its past mistakes.
