Kevin Rudd

Kevin Michael Rudd AC (born 21 September 1957) is a former Australian politician who was twice Prime Minister of Australia serving from 2007 to 2010 and again from 27 June 2013 to 18 September 2013. He also served as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010. Rudd was the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs from 14 September 2010 to 22 February 2012. He was member for Griffith in Brisbane from 1998 to 2013.

The Honourable Kevin Rudd AC
23rd Ambassador of Australia to the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 March 2023
Prime Minister	Anthony Albanese
Preceded by	Arthur Sinodinos
26th Prime Minister of Australia
In office 27 June 2013 – 18 September 2013
Monarch	Elizabeth II of Australia
Governor-General	Quentin Bryce
Deputy	Anthony Albanese
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Succeeded by	Tony Abbott
In office 3 December 2007 – 24 June 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II of Australia
Governor-General	Michael Jeffery Quentin Bryce
Deputy	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	John Howard
Succeeded by	Julia Gillard
18th Leader of the Labor Party
In office 26 June 2013 – 13 September 2013
Deputy	Anthony Albanese
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Succeeded by	Bill Shorten
In office 4 December 2006 – 24 June 2010
Deputy	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Julia Gillard
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 14 September 2010 – 22 February 2012
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Stephen Smith
Succeeded by	Bob Carr
29th Leader of the Opposition
In office 4 December 2006 – 3 December 2007
Deputy	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Brendan Nelson
Member of the Australian Parliament for Griffith
In office 3 October 1998 – 22 November 2013
Preceded by	Graeme McDougall
Succeeded by	Terri Butler
Personal details
Born	21 September 1957 Nambour, Queensland
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Thérèse Rein
Children	Jessica Marcus Nicholas

Rudd went to the Australian National University and studied International Studies. He learned to speak the Chinese language. He became a diplomat for the Australian government. He lived and worked in Sweden, and later in China. Rudd won a seat in Parliament in 1998. The Australian Labor party elected him the Leader of the Opposition in December 2006. After 11 years of the Liberal Party being in power, the Labor Party won the 2007 federal election. During the election Rudd talked a lot about work agreements (industrial relations laws) and global warming. As prime minister he signed the Kyoto Protocol and "apologised" to Aboriginal Australians for bad things done by the government long ago. He spoke about human rights in China in the Chinese language to Chinese students. Australia and China were doing lots of trade, but the Chinese government did not like this talk. He also supported the Afghanistan war and took Australian troops out of the Iraq conflict.

Rudd was Prime Minister at the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis. His government, with Wayne Swan as treasurer, spent a lot of money to try and keep the economy going. Australia did not have a recession, but management of this government spending started problems for Rudd. His government was seen as being unable to cope with and this started to affect Rudd's popularity.

Rudd planned a new tax on the huge profits being made mining companies in Australia. These companies and their leaders started a huge advertising campaign against the Labor government. He also decided to delay his election promises to do something about Global Warming. His leadership style was unpopular with many members of the Labor Party. members of parliament felt that they were not able to take part in making important decisions. They felt that Rudd left things until the last moment, and then acted quickly when things had almost became a crisis. With these things happening, the Labor Party decided that there had to be some changes. Realizing that he had lost support, Rudd resigned as leader of the Labor Party, and as Prime Minister. Julia Gillard was elected to the position of leader, and therefore prime minister. He was really sad. Gillard promised that Rudd would be made Foreign Minister if they won the 2010 election.

After the 2010 Election, Gillard chose Rudd to be Foreign Minister. In February 2012, Rudd decided that he should again be leader of the Labor Party. He said he could not work with Gillard because she did not trust him. He resigned as Foreign Minister, and said he would challenge Gillard for the leadership. The Labor Party held a meeting on 27 February 2012 and held a new vote for the leader's position. Rudd only received 31 votes while Gillard got 71 votes. Rudd returned to the backbench, and not have any positions of responsibility in the government until on 26 June 2013, Gillard announced another caucus ballot on the leadership. Rudd won it so he became the Leader of the Labor Party for a second time. On 27 June 2013, Rudd was sworn in as Prime Minister. Rudd is the first former Prime Minister to return to the office since Robert Menzies in 1949 and the second Labor Prime Minister to do so.

On 31 May 2012 Rudd became a grandfather when his daughter Jessica gave birth to a baby girl.

On 7 September 2013, Labor lost the 2013 election to the Coalition led by Tony Abbott.

On 13 November 2013, Rudd announced that he would be retiring from politics at end of week. His resignation took effect on 22 November 2013.

Kevin Rudd Media

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  Kevin Rudd in November 2005

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  Kevin Rudd (right) and Julia Gillard (left) at their first press conference as Leader and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party, 4 December 2006

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  Two-party-preferred polling during the last term of the Howard government; Rudd became Labor Leader in December 2006.

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  Labour Day 2007. From left to right: Anna Bligh (then Deputy Premier of Queensland), Rudd's son Nicholas, Kevin Rudd and Grace Grace (then general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions)

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  Kevin Rudd campaigning with Kerry Rea in Bonner on 21 September 2007

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  Two-party-preferred polling during the term of the Rudd government. See also: 2010 Australian federal election#Polling.

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  Kevin Rudd on television in Federation Square, Melbourne, apologising to the stolen generations

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  Kevin Rudd (back row, fourth from right) at the G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy

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  Labor MPs Nick Champion, Mike Rann, Rudd and Tony Piccolo in Gawler for the Tour Down Under in 2010

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  Rudd (left) and US President George W. Bush (right) meet at APEC Australia 2007 in Sydney

Other websites

• "Profile: Kevin Rudd". BBC. Retrieved 2011-05-16.
• "Kevin Rudd". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2011-05-16.</