"...relieved the toxicity of this government is gone"

not my words, ex-P.M. Paul Keating's account of John Howard losing office, but it sounds a fair description to me.

Over 11 years of xenophobia and lies. Fuck it. I won’t list all of Howard’s transgressions (national or international). The only crime I'll mention is 'treason', a lack of loyalty to the best-interests of this country. The little bastard was willing to sell Australia out, over and over again, to the Americans, to his rich mates, to his small-mind prejudices, to fears he manufactured for votes. The consequences of this betrayal are dire, Australia is hardly recognisable as the nation he took-over in 1996. The values that Howard so often evoked, of 'equality', 'mateship', 'a fair go', 'generosity of spirit', are largely historical footnotes - people are often surprised when they see the real thing. Being a decent person has become so rare that people get medals and rewards,just for 'doing the right thing'.

Now Howard is gone, and so many of lackeys too. Stooge Peter Costello isn’t going to lead the Liberal Party, and things are so bad that the new Opposition are considering Tony Abbot as leadership material. It’s almost enough to make me believe in a just and fair God, almost.

When I was very young there was a phrase that was popular: ’16 million Aussies can’t be wrong’. Well, they can, and often are, but occasionally they can get it right too....