"There is a tension between forgiveness and not forgetting"

"I did not rush to do that, Gillard knocked one out in the six months following the change of government to capture the story somehow, I wanted that time to be taken into account."

What would it say to people who call it vindictive?

"I do not think they said that about the 10 books before me accusing me of every crime against humanity, Gillard, Wayne Swan, everyone else.

"Most senior party officials thanked me for remaining silent in response to these previous books. I said that I would someday answer in my own form and here it is.

He says that people should read the first chapter of the book, read the positive things that he has to say about this first firm in 2007.

"When you talk about chapters on the coup d'etat, my criticism is limited to half a dozen people.

"It's actually a very generous account of the collaboration we have had through the system to produce the reforms we have made."

Rudd is great about what he did.

"The fact that renewable energy produces nearly 20% of Australian energy, is because I have legislated for it. The fact that we have a paid parental leave system is because I legislated for it. It's because we acted that we are members of the G20 because we co-founded it. We did things. "

Is there anything he would have liked to do?

"Obviously, if the Greens had not formed a coalition of convenience with the Conservatives to defeat the emissions trading system, the price of carbon would already be in 10 years."

When I wonder if he should have played the game a little better, worked the numbers, be politicized, he said that was never his way.

"Some will say I did not play the game enough," he admits.

"My attitude is a bit different because I'm basically a political guy. What are you doing to change the dial, move it forward, if you are concerned about the country's future, equal opportunities, support for the poor or our role in the world, what should you do to move it?

"If you're caught off guard, it's a pretty simple math question. If you spend two thirds of your time performing internal shiatsu mbadage within the party on an ongoing basis, you have very little time to govern the nation. "

He is discouraged by the current state of Australian politics.

"It was great to be back in Canberra this morning. We went to university here, grew up here in one way, we owned two houses here, but do I miss this place? "He said pointing to the house.

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"Oh my God no.

"We loved Canberra, but we can not stand what's going on in this building because the environment is so toxic.

"And it becomes progressively more toxic, a product of personalities and culture induced by the Murdoch media that is quite vicious in its tone and content …

"Politics is no longer a matter of politics, but a question of personality – how to deconstruct someone's personality, destroy it and for me, it's a little sick."

Do not start with Rupert Murdoch, "the biggest cancer, the most clever of our Australian democracy," he writes in the book.

"The poisoning of political speech by the exceptionally conservative ideological agenda of Murdoch swept the heart of the Anglosphere, the United States, Britain and Australia, I do not think not that people understand how much. "

He attributes to Murdoch the rise of Donald Trump, the Brexit, his own exit, the recent disappearance of Turnbull.

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But there is no more blame, if you believe it. In the last paragraphs of his book, he talks about a conversation he had with his wife about forgiveness, forgiveness of those whom he believes have wronged him and those who may also believe that he has wronged them.

"You have to work for that," he says.

"Otherwise, you end up being bitter and twisted, you have to work to no longer let them occupy your head space, that's part of my point of view.

"Yes, there is a tension between forgiving and not forgetting. You can never forget, but the importance of this documented story is that it already exists and that people, when they read it, will make their own opinion based on the evidence.

"Does this narrative disturb other narratives that others may have sought to establish, especially those who dressed naked personal ambition as a noble goal, remains to be seen" .

Did he let it go? Did he forgive people? How bitter and twisted is it? As I said, it's hard to know what to do with Kevin Rudd.

The PM yearsby Kevin Rudd. Macmillan. $ 44.99.