Former Australian PM Kevin Rudd Tapped as Next Ambassador to US

Current Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd, who is also the former Australian prime minister at the Jack Morton Auditorium of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on May 26, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been chosen as Australia’s next ambassador to the United States to replace the previous government’s appointee Arthur Sinodinos.

In a statement on Dec. 20, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed the appointment, saying that Rudd brought “unmatched experience to the role.”

Both ministers called him the “world’s most eminent and sought-after” expert on U.S.-China relations.

“At a time when our region is being reshaped by strategic competition, our interests are well served with a representative of Dr. Rudd’s standing,” they said.

The announcement comes a day after Albanese and Wong released a statement commemorating the 50th anniversary of former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s 1972 decision to establish diplomatic ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Rudd is expected to begin his new role in 2023. He first won office in 2007 off Liberal-National Coalition Prime Minister John Howard, and served until 2010 before being ousted by his successor and fellow party member Julia Gillard.

Later in 2013, Rudd managed to oust Gillard and become prime minister in June 2013 before losing government in the subsequent election in September.

Rudd is currently the global president and CEO of the Asia Society think tank in New York City and was backed for the diplomatic post by former Labor Foreign Minister Bob Carr.

Rudd’s Views on Beijing, Trump

The Mandarin-speaking Rudd has been a vocal critic of the previous Morrison government’s approach to relations with Beijing, former U.S. President Donald Trump, and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

On the Morrison government, Rudd accused them of inflaming tensions with the CCP through its rhetoric, compelling Rudd to even call former Defence Minister Peter Dutton and current opposition leader an “idiot.”

“The more you shout, and the more hair you stitch on to your chest of a morning, somehow the better your overall strategic circumstances with China and the United States might be,” he said at the Australian National University. “That’s just declaratory [expletive]. And it’s directed at an Australian domestic political audience.”

Over the pandemic years, Australia-China bilateral ties took a dive following calls by former Foreign Minister Marise Payne for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 in April 2020—a stance that angered Beijing.

What followed was an extensive economic coercion campaign that saw Beijing roll out sanctions and penalties on Australian exports to China.

This was on top of ongoing concerns of Beijing-backed foreign interference activities in Australia, as well as security and espionage concerns around China-based technology firms like Huawei and ZTE. Both companies were subsequently banned from Australia’s 5G network under the Liberal-National Coalition.

Despite Australian ministers being frozen out from meeting their Chinese counterparts, Rudd was invited in May 2021 to address a trade forum organised by a CCP propaganda body and state-run media outlet.

As prime minister, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue lapsed under his tenure, an agreement he maintains was already losing momentum under his predecessors.

While in recent weeks, Rudd has warned of the possible risk of conflict if the CCP chooses to invade the self-ruled liberal democracy of Taiwan in the next five years.

Regarding Trump, Rudd called him the “most destructive president in history.”

“Normally, an American political leader at times like this would act to bring the country together, to offer healing words, but also appropriate actions,” he said in comments obtained by 7news.

“Instead, what we have with President Trump is for him to maximise the politics of division through his appearance yesterday in front of the church just behind the White House.”

Rudd has also crusaded against News Corporation in Australia, petitioning for a Royal Commission into the company’s media holdings and influence in the country.