Opposition leaders are like miniature piglets.

They look so sweet in the shop, don't they? With their whiffling little pink noses and their eagerness to please; with their intelligent eyes and their loving natures and the sales assistant's guarantee that they are fastidiously clean and, moreover, will fetch the paper every morning – what's not to love?

It is only much later on, well after the election's won and the warranty's expired, that you wake up and realise, with a dull sense of unsurprise, that you've got a six-foot grunter digging up your backyard.

From Howard's dramatic departure to Rudd's relentless march to power, the last few years have been momentous ones in Australian politics. In Rise of the Ruddbot, Australia's funniest, most incisive political commentator chronicles these strange and turbulent times. Featuring Tony "People Skills" Abbott, Julia "La Gillardine" Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull, Penny Wong, Godwin Grech, Barnaby Joyce and more, this is the perfect companion for an election year.