Appearing on ABC’s 7.30 earlier this month, former prime minister Kevin Rudd stressed his appointment as ambassador to the United States, which began this week, was about striving for the greater national good. “I’m there to represent Australian interests,” he told Sarah Ferguson.
Although acknowledging there could be a “very small role” for him to play in stabilising relations between America and China should Washington call on his genius, he quickly put this in context. He would do so “only on the basis of guidance and instructions from Canberra”. As Rudd would no doubt tell us, an ambassador’s priority is one’s country, not one’s ego.
It was a similar undertaking to one Rudd gave in September 2010 following the announcement by prime minister Julia Gillard that he would be appointed foreign minister. Notwithstanding the animosity between the two over his ousting from the leadership and despite the subsequent leaks that almost destroyed Gillard’s re-election campaign, both individuals were spruiking collaboration.
“There are national interests of this country which extend far beyond the personal interests of any individual,” Rudd told journalists. “That applies to me as well,” he added, saying he and Gillard had “a positive and professional relationship”.
Less than 18 months later, Rudd called a press conference to announce his resignation, claiming he did not have Gillard’s confidence. This followed months of media speculation that Rudd was plotting to wrest the leadership. “The truth is, I also feel very uncomfortable doing this from Washington and not in Australia,” he said, looking very comfortable at the thought of maximising Gillard’s embarrassment. To add to her humiliation, he had not even forewarned her of his announcement.
But that was the old Kevin, and those days are behind him. As he told ABC in 2015: “It for me a truth that I do not get the slightest sense of satisfaction or joy about the discomfort of others”. How could we have thought otherwise?
His new role means he has departed as chair of the activist lobby group Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission. Rudd’s interest in this movement was entirely altruistic in that he wants to refute what he claims is media “misinformation”. You know, misinformation such as what The Australian disseminated when it reported in April last year that then opposition leader Anthony Albanese had told senior colleagues he wanted to send Rudd to Washington as ambassador in the event of a Labor victory – a story Albanese claimed was “complete nonsense” and one that Rudd angrily decried as “categorically false”.
Not all within Labor are enamoured of his appointment. As the Sydney Morning Herald reported in January: “Many of Albanese’s cabinet and caucus colleagues are privately concerned that Rudd’s chaotic governing style in office will become a feature of his tenure in Washington.” That’s not to say they believe Rudd is unfit to head a diplomatic mission. It is just that many feel Rudd should be dispatched to Ouagadougou instead of Washington.
Their concerns are not misplaced. Surely Albanese cannot have forgotten Rudd’s mercurial nature, particularly his briefing journalists in 2009 that Chinese “fu**ers” were trying to “rat f**k” the Copenhagen climate talks. Even more concerning is his penchant for histrionics. In June 2013, the day after he returned as prime minister, Rudd seized on then opposition leader Tony Abbott’s plan to turn back asylum-seeker vessels, implying this could result in war. “I really wonder whether he’s trying to risk some sort of conflict with Indonesia,” he said.
Presumably Albanese believes having Rudd as ambassador, while risky, will secure a loose cannon. Good luck with that. Given his fervent belief he was wrongfully denied his country’s nomination for the position of UN secretary-general, he would regard his present position as nothing more than a sop. As for taking orders from Canberra, Rudd is not averse to working in a hierarchy – provided he occupies the top position.
Then there is the question of Rudd’s commitment to AUKUS. Writing for Guardian Australia following the announcement of the agreement in September 2021, Rudd castigated the Morrison government for the manner in which it had communicated its decision not to proceed further in acquiring French-built submarines.
But Rudd’s criticism went well beyond what he claimed was egregious treatment of an ally. It was a case of prime minister Scott Morrison “mixing it with the big guys and being hairy chested about China,” he sneeringly observed. “Australia refuses to move beyond the narrow cocoon of the Anglosphere in augmenting its foreign policy and national security interests.”
As for the DFAT members serving state-side, I hope you treat the new ambassador in a manner befitting his importance. He requires a light fish or chicken dinner when flying domestically, even if it is just a 20-minute journey. Sandwiches are for peasants. If he is doing a photo op in a hardship location, make sure the hair dryer accompanies him. And can someone tell those dickheads in the embassy to just give him simple sentences when he is recording a promotional video.
Penny Wong can relax knowing her man in Washington is completely devoted to his task and has no intention of usurping her role. After all, Rudd is a happy little Vegemite as Foreign Minister.
More Coverage
A decade of Sunshine: Crisafulli’s 10-year vow to Queenslanders
In a result that will be heavily analysed by Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton just months away from a federal election, David Crisafulli shed his small target election strategy to promise to deliver significant reforms on infrastructure, crime and housing.
Scare over: Crisafulli has to take Queenslanders into his confidence
David Crisafulli won’t want to dwell on the messy way this particular democracy sausage was made. He should, because he needs to to learn from the missteps that went horribly close to blowing the election for the LNP.