Former prime minister Kevin Rudd will develop into Australia’s new ambassador to the US.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement on Tuesday morning, saying his predecessor would deliver “unmatched experience to the role”.
He will start his posting in early 2023.
That’s regardless of Mr Albanese rubbishing solutions within the lead-up to the May election that Dr Rudd wold be the subsequent ambassador in Washington.
Talking in regards to the rumours in April, Mr Albanese stated it was “complete nonsense” and a part of a media obsession.
In making his announcement on Tuesday, Mr Albanese stated Dr Rudd was an “outstanding appointment” – regardless of a journalist placing to him that his Labor colleagues had described the previous prime minister as a “psychopath, a micromanager and a control freak”.
“Kevin Rudd … brings a great deal of credit to Australia by agreeing to take up this position as a former prime minister, as a former foreign minister, as someone who’s been head of the Asia Society, and as someone who has links with the global community based in Washington DC will be a major asset in working to assist the Foreign Minister as other ambassadors do in their job,” Mr Albanese stated.
“Kevin Rudd will be an outstanding representative … He will conduct himself in a way that brings great credit to Australia.
“I am very pleased that Kevin Rudd is prepared to do this. He certainly doesn’t have to do this. He’s doing it out of a part of what he sees as his service obligation to the country that he loves. I am sure that he will serve very well.”
In an announcement, Dr Rudd stated he was “greatly honoured” by his appointment.
“Our national interest continues to be served, as it has for decades past, by the deepest and most effective strategic engagement of the United States in our region,” he stated.
“Our alliance isn’t merely grounded in our widespread safety and financial pursuits however throughout generations of friendships between our peoples and our shared values of freedom, democracy, and the universality of human rights.
Mr Albanese made the announcement as Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong prepares to journey to China for the primary ministerial go to since 2019.
The journey will coincide with the 50-year anniversary of diplomatic relations between the 2 nations after former prime minister Gough Whitlam made the journey to China in 1972.
Senator Wong’s go to is the primary time a minister has stepped foot in China since 2019 and follows years of a deteriorating relationship.
