Updated
In the days after Donald Trump stormed into the oval
office, the former Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton,
drank Australian chardonnay, practised alternate nostril-breathing and
read mystery novels because "the bad guy usually gets it in the end".
"There
were times when I was tempted to just pull the covers back over my
head," Mrs Clinton told a packed Melbourne Exhibition Centre on Thursday
night. But when the covers finally came off, and the sharp pain of loss had faded to a dull ache, the former secretary of state faced a poignant but less-than-comforting conclusion.
"Everyone gets knocked down," she said. "What matters is if you get back up."
In an at times revealing conversation with Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard, Mrs Clinton spoke about her personal struggles with what she called America's "first reality TV election".
"It was a perfect storm," she said.
Virtually from the moment she declared her intention to run, the former senator from New York found herself in the middle of a war of misinformation.
She was simultaneously accused of suffering from a debilitating illness and founding the Islamic State group. Enemies claimed the Pope had endorsed her rival.
Mrs Clinton spoke of how she was "pummelled" by her political opponents who left her with brutal trench scars.
But despite all this, she still decided to run for the highest office an American could ever hope to hold.
"It was something I had to do," Mrs Clinton said.
That decision was met by a political media obsessed with an email scandal, the unprecedented intervention of an FBI director, and a foreign government running unparalleled interference.
"The forces at work in the 2016 election are still with us," she said.
"The Russians are still playing on anything and everything they can to turn Americans against each other."This is bigger than one candidate, one election or even one country.
"This is an urgent problem and one we must confront immediately and together."
A significant chunk of Mrs Clinton's talk in Melbourne on Thursday was spent discussing sexism and misogyny.
She spoke of how an initial decision to keep her maiden name caused criticism to rain down on her young family, and of the double-standards faced by women who decided they wanted to be leaders.
"For men, likeability and professional success go hand in hand," Mrs Clinton said. "But with women, it's the exact opposite."
But despite these bleak realisations, Mrs Clinton left her Australian audience with a message of hope.
"These are challenging times, but I will end by saying I am fundamentally optimistic," she said.
With the election over, she says she will now focus on helping the Democrats take back control of America's House of Representatives.
"Despite the warning systems coming from my own country, we will right our ship of state.
"We are on the right side of history."
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