New leadership. Fresh ideas for the future. An education revolution. Fixing the federation. When Kevin Rudd led Labor to office in 2007, he did so promising change. It was an irresistible proposition for an electorate weary of an 11-year-old government that was running out of energy and ideas.

Not long after the 2007 election, flushed with the excitement of a Labor victory, I sat down at home in Sydney to write a dispatch for the British magazine Prospect. What could Australians expect from their new prime minister? The fact that Rudd was still a relatively new figure on the Australian political scene only made the guessing game more interesting. His leadership offered a blank sheet onto which everyone could write their aspirations, if not idealisations.

There were a few things about Rudd that were clear. While very much one whose leadership remained a work in progress, this was to some extent offset by evident strategic nous and media flair: recall, for instance, his address to Chinese Premier Hu Jintao in fluent Mandarin at the APEC summit of September 2007. It was clear, too, that Rudd would bring a certain temperament and style of governing to the Lodge – this was likely to be a presidential prime minister, rather than one leading a cabinet based on primus inter pares. Certainly, there was no question about his discipline and stamina.