Start with idealism. Ends always trump means. Gain power. Hold it tight. Become cynical. Break promises. Retain power.

You’ll have many friends, until the end.

You’ll leave.

Or they will.

Aren’t all leaders destined to be replaced?

rob walker 13/09/15

I wrote this liwuli last Sunday at our poetica poetry workshop before Abbott’s demise. It could apply equally to the (then) prime-minister-in-waiting Malcolm Turnbull – or any leader, really.

Prime minister Tony Abbott and Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull attend the UN International Women’s Day Parliamentary breakfast at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, Mar. 03, 2015. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING