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Kevin Rudd

This Month

A social media photo showing Anthony Albanese playing tennis in Perth.

Anyone for tennis? Albanese needs to avoid the January jinx

A wander through some recent prime ministerial summers shows us that the season is stuffed with political danger.

  • Lidija Ivanovski

November

Special Minister of State Don Farrell.

Labor MPs told to campaign hard on Senate votes

The party’s upper house decline has been stifling its policy ambitions, as it needs 14 extra votes for every bill it needs to pass.

  • Phillip Coorey

The economics behind ‘credible threats’

Good strategy involves knowing the game, including your opponents, and committing to a strategy.

  • Richard Holden
Peter Costello, left, set up the Future Fund when he was treasurer. Changes put in place Treasurer Jim Chalmers (centre) that will be acted on by the new Future Fund chairman Greg Combet (right) risk making it a “slush fund”, Costello says.

‘I would not have agreed to Future Fund shift’

With $230 billion to come into play, expect a long line of rent-seekers to form a queue, says former treasurer and Future Fund founder Peter Costello.

  • Peter Costello
Peter Costello accused Kevin Rudd of wanting to drain the Future Fund’s earnings for election promises.

‘Like bears to a honey-pot’: how the Future Fund got political

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ planned changes to the nation’s $230 billion savings account might be unfinished business for Labor.

  • Tom McIlroy
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China’s envoy to the Pacific Qian Bo, pictured donating COVID supplies in 2022.

Trump warned on ‘relentless’ China as Beijing duchesses Pacific

China has overtaken the US to become the second-biggest donor of foreign aid to the Pacific.

  • Andrew Tillett
Australia’s ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd and US President-elect Donald Trump.

US leadership ‘indispensable’ even with Trump: Rudd

In his first comments since the former president’s comeback, the Australian ambassador in Washington says he is ready to work with the new White House.

  • Andrew Tillett
Rinehart with former Liberal Party vice president Teena McQueen (left), and Nigel Farage, the leader of the conservative UK Reform party, at Trump’s election watch party.

Rinehart’s right-hand woman still partying at Mar-a-Lago

Gina Rinehart’s flown home but Teena McQueen’s still at Mar-a-Lago, dancing to YMCA with Argentinian President Javier Milei.

  • Myriam Robin and Mark Di Stefano
Penny Wong has turned disciplined diplomatic language into an art form.

How to Trump-proof foreign policy

Don’t panic, don’t relax, look for opportunities, and stay close to our other allies. That’s a way to deal with a confronting new Washington.

  • Rory Medcalf
Rudd’s language on multiple occasions on social media, be it about Trump or other prime ministers, has been unbecoming for someone who once held the highest office.

Playing flick the ambassador is an old diplomatic game

If Albanese fails where Turnbull succeeded, and tariffs are imposed, it won’t just be Rudd who will be blamed, but the bloke who gave him the job.

  • Phillip Coorey
Kevin Rudd and key Donald Trump adviser Dan Scavino.

Trump’s Scavino nomination adds to pressure on Rudd

The president-elect’s choice of a trusted aide, who has suggested Australia’s US ambassador is unfit, could become a problem next year.

  • Updated
  • Matthew Cranston
Kevin Rudd and key Donald Trump adviser Dan Scavino.

Time running out for Rudd, says Trump adviser

A former White House deputy chief of staff posted a depleting hourglass in reply to a congratulatory tweet from Australia’s ambassador to the president-elect.

  • Andrew Tillett and Matthew Cranston
Donald Trump with Marco Rubio before his expected appointment as US Secretary of State

Trump’s foreign policy agenda a high-stakes guessing game

Donald Trump’s presidency is about to show up the contradictions in Australia’s defence spending and its domestic economy.

  • Jennifer Hewett
Anthony Albanese his relationship with Donald Trump is off to a flying start

Albanese channels Turnbull in Trump tariff fight

The Albanese government says the US has nothing to gain from imposing tariffs on Australia as it already enjoys a trade surplus.

  • Phillip Coorey
Anthony Albanese is more than aware of the role the cost of living played in the US election.

‘We need you’: PM presses Trump on AUKUS

Anthony Albanese has pledged to set aside previous differences and forge a close relationship with Donald Trump

  • Phillip Coorey
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Former Liberal Party federal vice president Teena McQueen (left), Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart (centre) and the leader of the conservative UK Reform party, Nigel Farage at Donald Trump’s election watch party.

Gina Rinehart linked to luxury Palm Beach property market

The mining billionaire attended Donald Trump’s Florida party after rumours she’s been in the Palm Beach real estate market.

  • Mark Di Stefano
Donald Trump and Kevin Rudd.

‘Don’t hit the panic button on Rudd’ if Trump wins

Recalling Kevin Rudd from Washington because of his past criticism of Donald Trump would be rash, said Dennis Richardson, Australia’s former ambassador to the US.

  • James Curran
Kevin Rudd.

Why Kevin Rudd could lose his job if Trump wins the US election

There are pros and cons of keeping the former PM as Australia’s man in Washington.

  • Andrew Tillett
Donald Trump at a rally in Albuquerque on Thursday.

Rudd, Wong scramble to shore up Trump ties in coin-flip election

Senior Albanese government figures met with Mike Pompeo, the former president’s close ally, and others associated with his last administration.

  • Andrew Tillett

October

President Joe Biden speaks at the Gila Crossing Community School in Arizona on Friday,

Biden made a historic apology to Native Americans. Few noticed

The US approach to Indigenous concerns and rights and history is very different to Australia’s.

  • Jennifer Hewett

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/kevin-michael-rudd-3z0