Where’s Kevin07? Doubt over whether Kevin Rudd will join Anthony Albanese’s campaign

Where’s Kevin07? Former PM Kevin Rudd and Anthony Albanese are close, but an ALP insider says it’s “no coincidence” Rudd is missing in action.

Anthony Albanese has laid claim to the legacy of Bob Hawke and the economic wisdom of John Howard but the one ex prime minister he has a genuine bond with – Kevin Rudd – is no certainty to feature prominently in his campaign.

Mr Rudd still holds sway over Mr Albanese, colleagues say, but the polarising former leader has not been seen on the hustings with his confidante and former deputy for nearly a year. In the meantime, Mr Albanese has vowed that if he wins power he will govern like Mr Hawke, whose economic reforms he opposed as a young Labor activist in the 1980s, and quoted the economic mantra of Mr Howard, who he bitterly criticised while a rookie MP.

One ALP frontbencher said he was “sure it’s no coincidence” the maligned Mr Rudd – whose time in the top job was noted for chaos and dysfunction – was overseas on a book tour for the early weeks of Mr Albanese’s campaign.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and not yet been seen on the campaign trail helping his former deputy Anthony Albanese.

Mr Rudd has described Mr Albanese as the “most gifted natural politician of his time” and a “lifelong friend”.

“Rudd has a lot of influence (over Albanese),” the Labor frontbencher said.

“It’s a strange relationship. They’re each trying to manipulate the other.”

Despite being close, the last recorded sighting of the pair on the campaign trail together was in a low key walk through Eumundi Markets on the Sunshine Coast, where Mr Rudd is now based, in July.

It’s unknown whether he will attend Labor’s official campaign launch event and the party’s campaign headquarters did not comment on whether he would join Mr Albanese’s campaign.

It’s understood Mr Rudd, who has been on a global tour promoting his new book “The Avoidable War” has received requests from Labor candidates across the country for his help in their campaign – with the Queenslander to assist where it fits his schedule.

His book tour will move back to Australia and circle the nation from April 26, ending in Noosa on May 17 ¬ four days before polling day.

Mr Albanese and Mr Rudd were close colleagues and friends throughout Labor’s last term in office.

In comments published in The Australian yesterday Mr Albanese said he was a friend of Mr Rudd’s but had learned the lessons from the Rudd-Gillard era, which he described as a “difficult period”.

Mr Albanese also contrasted himself with Mr Rudd by saying he was on time for meetings and had introduced proper decision-making processes in Labor shadow cabinet.

In his 2017 memoir Mr Rudd heaped praised on Mr Albanese, describing him as “great on his feet and driven by a political passion that can only come from personal familiarity with bleak poverty”.

“Albo was the Labor Party tradition at its best,’’ he said.

“We were to become lifelong friends, something most would have not predicted given that I was from the Queensland right and he from the NSW left.”

Mr Albanese and Mr Rudd have rarely been seen in public together in recent times. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Before the Eumundi outing, the pair had previously hit the hustings for one day in Brisbane in February 2021.

Mr Albanese, in a radio interview at the time, described Mr Rudd as “an asset” and said people were “very warm towards” them during a street walk.

In recent years, the Opposition Leader has jumped to Mr Rudd’s defence multiple times.

In May 2019 Mr Albanese — after highlighting that Mr Rudd was a “friend” — said the former PM was a “good Labor leader”.

“ (Mr Rudd) was the third person since the Second World War to take us into government from opposition. That’s a mountain to climb and I want to be the fourth,” Mr Albanese said.

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Originally published as Where’s Kevin07? Doubt over whether Kevin Rudd will join Anthony Albanese’s campaign