(Transcript from World News Australia on SBS Radio)
Italy's parliament has taken the dramatic step of expelling three time Prime Minister and billionaire Silvio Berlusconi after he was convicted of tax fraud.
Following a two decade political career, Mr Berlusconi now faces an embarrassing six year ban from taking part in any general election.
He also loses his parliamentary immunity, which offers safeguards against arrest.
Critics of the former Prime Minister say his expulsion is a long overdue move which will help strengthen the position of the current coalition government, led by the centre-left's Enrico Letta.
But Mr Berlusconi's supporters believe the parliament has acted unjustly and they hope the former Prime Minister can make a political comeback in the future.
Michael Kenny reports.
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Moments before he entered the Senate for the vote, Silvio Berlusconi gave an emotional speech to thousands of supporters.
(Translated) "We are here in what is a bitter day, a day of mourning for Italian democracy. We must stay on the field. We must not despair if the leader of the centre-right is not a senator any more. There are leaders of other parties who are not parliamentarians."
Mr Berlusconi says he will continue to lead his Forza Italia party from outside parliament.
However after months of debate over his future, the party has weakened, with 30 MPs defecting to form a new party.
Many of these MPs are now voting with centre-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition government.
Mr Letta believes Mr Berlusconi's expulsion will ensure greater political stability as more of Berlusconi supporters defect to other parties which are more sympathetic to the government.
(Translated) "The government is stronger now and more cohesive. It is a government which has the support of political parties which have done the same as what's currently being done in Germany: a grand coalition."
Mr Letta says the grand coalition of left and right parties, led by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, has shown that politicians from across the spectrum can work together in an effective government.
However some members of the Forza Italia party believe there is likely to be lingering resentment from many centre-right voters in Italy over the way Mr Berlusconi was forced from parliament.
Forza Italia Senator Lucio Malan believes the parliamentarians have acted unfairly.
"Well a coup d'etat is usually at least more visible and it is, in a way, fairer because you can see the tanks. It is a little harder to see the injustice, the political use of justice made in the very same way as the worst of the regimes. And this is the case of Berlusconi today."
Among the senators who voted on Mr Berlusconi's expulsion was Sydney academic Francesco Giacobbe.
Mr Giacobbe and Melburnian Marco Fedi both hold diaspora seats in the Italian Senate for the centre-left Democratic Party.
Mr Giacobbe says he believes the expulsion of Mr Berlusconi will weaken Forza Italia and therefore end up benefiting the left-leaning government.
"Over the last couple of months, there has been a split in Berlusconi's party into two parties and there was a significant group of senators who left that party and formed a new centre-right party and they are in full support of the government and as a matter of fact, I think the government comes out stronger."
Mr Berlusconi's expulsion from parliament could also have broader implications for the 77-year-old former Prime Minister.
Stripped of his parliamentary immunity from arrest, he is now more vulnerable in a series of other court cases where he is accused of offences including political bribery and paying for sex with a minor.
Associate Professor Bruno Mascitelli specialises in Italian politics at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.
He believes Mr Berlusconi's expulsion could mark a major turning point for his Forza Italy party, saying it now faces an uncertain future without his presence in parliament.
"The moment Berlusconi is not there, the party breaks into warring factions including within what's left of it today. So there is not a lot of politics behind the new breakaway party, Forza Italia, and therefore the moment that the personality is not there, it really struggles to have a reason to exist."
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