Arbib hopes by quitting the senate and his seat that his "blood" will wash away the sins of his political factions past and restore some sanity to the backroom politics of the ALP.

Call me a cynic but - if he "knew" last December when he had a conversation with his wifey and kids after his promotion that he was going to pull the pin, why didn't he commit hare kara then? Me thinks the time lag has implications on hwat retirement benefits he might accrue........

was he pushed??? or at least see the knives being sharpened?

The fight isn't over by a long shot yet. There is a lot of dirt on Mark Arbib and he chose to go before being pushed. One down and a few more to go. Anyone who believes Julia Gillard won today believes government is about the ambitions of individuals who hijack our trust in them.

Julia Gillard has set back the advances of women by reinforcing the negative stereotyping of women as being vindictive, bitchy, power hungry, self centred and untrustworthy. What she failed to reinforce about women is that they are capable. But in her case capable of what one may ask?

This is a minority labour government regurgitating for a new generation the Whitlam dismissal. At that time the governor general a labour appointee dismissed the government of the day on the advice of a minister of the crown. Till this day people believe erroneously it was Malcolm Fraser alone. Wrong.

Julia Gillard did the same thing to Rudd as Whitlam had done to him by the GG and a labour minister.

All it now requires is for three ministers or labour parliamentarians to quit for the government to collapse and for Tony Abbot to be sworn in. Looking at it from where we stand today, that couldn't be such a bad thing after all.

The labour party has lost any credibility and I do believe this is the first sign of its impending demise. The rift cannot be healed. Thee same people like Keating, Hawke, Wran and Richardson run the party from Sydney like thugs. They must be flushed out for people to believe in the party again. Then again even that as a move for change might be too late.