Is Rudd Ready For New Role?

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd poses for a portrait at his office in Brisbane, Australia, on Dec. 20, 2022. Rudd will be Australia's next ambassador to the United States, the government has announced. (AAP Image/Darren England)

Commentary

Many of the observations made about Australia’s choice of a new ambassador to Washington D.C., former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, are less than complimentary.

A former Labor Premier and Senate Deputy Leader, Kristina Keneally, once described him on Sky News Australia as a “narcissist.”

She made those observations while alleging that her Labor colleagues shared that same assessment amid speculation Rudd was wanting the position of UN secretary-general.

One wonders what her observations would be today on his appointment to such a vital post as Australia’s top envoy.

Two federal leaders under whom Rudd served, Mark Latham and Julia Gillard, have also been critical of him. One allegedly accused him of targeted leaking from Cabinet, and the other alleged Rudd needs to always be liked.

But saying this, his non-stop ability to implement strategy and game-playing, which saw him ultimately become the leader of the Australian Labor Party, was a show to behold. One should be left with no doubt Rudd is a formidable strategist and analyst of both Australian politics and global geopolitics.

With these antecedents, the newly installed Labor government in Australia has appointed Rudd as the ambassador to Washington, undoubtedly the most consequential diplomatic post for Australia, especially from a defence and security consideration.

The nuclear submarine acquisition under the AUKUS treaty is overwhelmingly considered a vital recalibration of Australia’s defence posture.

But Rudd is on record as criticising the much-heralded deal by writing a scathing critique of it for the French newspaper Le Monde.

Now he will be charged with helping to oversee the smooth delivery of AUKUS and ensuring its success.

So, one wonders from an American perspective how welcome Rudd will be.

We will also need to wait and let time tell, and we will need to be patient as to how his appointment will play out, as his previous ambivalent approach to the United States and his partiality towards the communist dictatorship in China could be difficult for him to overcome in Washington, but overcome it he must.

For Australia to have an untrusted ambassador in the United States will do exceptional damage to our most important relationship.

No matter what we might think of the appointment, the Chinese dictatorship may be pleased, as it comes at a time when the CCP is flexing its military muscle and using a debt-trap foreign policy approach with developing countries to tie them into its geopolitical sphere.

At a time such as this, solidarity and strong connections between freedom-loving countries of the world are vital, especially between the United States and Australia.

The one pleasing aspect of Rudd’s appointment, which will be leveraged by himself and the government, is that he is a former Australian prime minister.

But it should be noted that the announcement of his appointment has not stopped Rudd from recently telling the United States to stop throwing its Asia-Pacific allies under the proverbial economic bus if regional security cooperation is to be maintained.

Rudd’s defence of his comments was that he hadn’t turned into an ambassadorial “pumpkin” just yet, noting his appointment starts in March.

True, but as soon as the announcement was made, the government was entitled to expect a greater degree of circumspection from their ambassador-designate.

Suffice it to say it was not a diplomatic utterance for the designated ambassador to make.

However, Rudd’s reputation will be vitally boosted if he can repudiate the doubters and be a team player, knuckling down to do his duty for Australia and foster its most important relationship.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.