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Decided to add after PM section on there as an update. Can someone please clean it up a bit
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When in Canberra, Rudd and Rein worship at [[St John the Baptist Church, Reid]], where they were married.<ref name="SMH-Marr"/> Rudd often does a "door stop" interview for the media when leaving the church yard.<ref>[http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/kevin-rudds-politics-of-piety-put-on-parade/story-e6frerff-1225813655079 Kevin Rudd's politics of piety put on parade], Dennis Atkins, [[The Courier-Mail]], 26 December 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2010.</ref>
When in Canberra, Rudd and Rein worship at [[St John the Baptist Church, Reid]], where they were married.<ref name="SMH-Marr"/> Rudd often does a "door stop" interview for the media when leaving the church yard.<ref>[http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/kevin-rudds-politics-of-piety-put-on-parade/story-e6frerff-1225813655079 Kevin Rudd's politics of piety put on parade], Dennis Atkins, [[The Courier-Mail]], 26 December 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2010.</ref>

==Life after Prime Ministership==

Since the announcement of the Australian Federal Election, 2010 Rudd has been the centre of much of the media spotlight despite his relatively lowly current status in the party as a backbencher. This has included allegations made by [[News Limited]] that former Foreign Minister [[Alexander Downer]] claimed that Rudd had prior to the 2007 election been the sources of leaked information given him by the Howard government, so that he could discredit then Foreign Affairs spokesman [[Laurie Bereton]]. This has been denied by both Rudd and Downer who has said that "The interpretation placed on my comments to the Sunday Telegraph is wrong" and that "Kevin Rudd was not used by me or other members of the Liberal Party as a so-called 'double agent' to leak material against other members of the Labor Party."


==See also==
==See also==
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7043713.stm BBC Profile – Kevin Rudd]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7043713.stm BBC Profile – Kevin Rudd]
*[http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/gallery/0,22056,5025871-5010140,00.html "Kevin Rudd: The early years | Daily Telegraph" – Images]
*[http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/gallery/0,22056,5025871-5010140,00.html "Kevin Rudd: The early years | Daily Telegraph" – Images]
web|http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/01/2970025.htm}}
{{OpenAustralia}}
{{OpenAustralia}}


Revision as of 10:31, 2 August 2010

The Honourable
Kevin Rudd

MP
26th Prime Minister of Australia
Elections: 2007
In office
3 December 2007 – 24 June 2010
DeputyJulia Gillard
Preceded byJohn Howard
Succeeded byJulia Gillard
Leader of the Labor Party
In office
4 December 2006 – 24 June 2010
DeputyJulia Gillard
Preceded byKim Beazley
Succeeded byJulia Gillard
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Griffith
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 October 1998
Preceded byGraeme McDougall
Personal details
Born (1957-09-21) 21 September 1957 (age 66)
Nambour, Australia
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
SpouseThérèse Rein
Alma materAustralian National University
ProfessionDiplomat
Public servant
Signature

Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian politician and former Prime Minister of Australia. He has been the member for the House of Representatives seat of Griffith for the Australian Labor Party since the 1998 federal election. He was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia, from December 2007 until June 2010, when he stood down for Julia Gillard.

Rudd was promoted to the Labor frontbench in 2001 as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, and by December 2006 he had become Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition, replacing Kim Beazley. Rudd Labor overtook the incumbent Liberal/National coalition government led by John Howard, in both party and leadership polling. As the new leader, Rudd gave major announcements on areas such as industrial relations, climate change, an "education revolution", a National Broadband Network, and health. Rudd Labor won the November 2007 federal election, receiving a five and a half percent two-party-preferred, 23-seat swing.

The Rudd government's first acts included signing the Kyoto Protocol[2] and delivering a formal apology in parliament to Indigenous Australians for the stolen generations.[3] Previous industrial relations legislation, WorkChoices, was substantially reformed[4] including the introduction of Fair Work Australia to replace the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.[5] The healthcare system was significantly reformed,[6] remaining Iraq War combat personnel were withdrawn,[7] and the "Australia 2020 Summit" was held.[8] When the Global Financial Crisis began in mid to late 2008, economic stimulus packages comprising of infrastructure spending and cash handouts were implemented by the government,[9] which contributed to Australia being one of the few western countries[10][11] to successfully avoid being part of the late-2000s recession.[12][13]

Rudd Labor enjoyed an unprecedented period of "stratospheric" popularity in the polls from opposition through until mid-2009,[14] but in mid-2010 the polls sharply contracted with the two-party-preferred vote levelling out for the first time.[15] Rudd's satisfaction-dissatisfaction rating in Newspoll went from 67–21 in late 2009, to 50–41 in mid-April 2010, but two weeks later it fell to 39–50 and did not recover.[16] The proposed introduction of a controversial Resource Super Profits Tax[17][18] and the deferral of a Senate-rejected emissions trading scheme (ETS) design known as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme[19][20] were cited as reasons for a loss of support in Rudd by the public. Meanwhile, his party was increasingly unhappy with Rudd's apparently autocratic style of government.[21][22] On 23 June 2010, following days of speculation, Rudd announced that the Federal Labor caucus would hold a leadership ballot the following day between himself and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard.[23][24] When it became clear that he had lost the support of his party, Rudd stepped down as prime minister and party leader.[25][26] He will recontest his seat of Griffith at the next election, the first former Prime Minister to do so since Sir William McMahon in 1980.

Early life and family

File:M596285.jpg
Kevin Rudd (left), 1974 'Youth Speaks for Australia' contest winner at age 17

Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland to parents Albert Rudd and Margaret née DeVere, and grew up on a dairy farm in nearby Eumundi.[27] At an early age (5–7) he contracted rheumatic fever and spent a considerable time at home convalescing. It damaged his heart, but this was only discovered some 12 years later.[28] Farm life, which required the use of horses and guns, is where he developed his life-long love of horse riding and shooting clay targets.[29] When Rudd was 11, his father, a share farmer and Country Party member, died from septicaemia after six weeks in hospital due to a car accident. The family was compelled to leave the farm under hardship.[30] Rudd joined the Australian Labor Party in 1972 at the age of 15.[31] He boarded at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane[32] although these years were not happy due to the indignity of poverty and reliance on charity – he was known to be a "charity case" due to his father's sudden death; and, he has since described the school as "... tough, harsh, unforgiving, institutional Catholicism of the old school."[28] Two years later, after she retrained as a nurse, his mother moved the family to Nambour, and Rudd rebuilt his standing through study and scholastic application[28] and was dux of Nambour State High School in 1974.[33] In that year he was also the Queensland winner of the Rotary 'Youth Speaks for Australia' public speaking contest.

Rudd is of English and Irish descent.[34] His paternal 4th great-grandparents were English and of convict heritage: Thomas Rudd and Mary Cable (she was from Essex). Thomas arrived from London, England in 1801, Mary in 1804. Thomas Rudd, a convict, arrived in NSW on board the Earl Cornwallis in 1801. He was convicted of stealing a bag of sugar.[35]

Rudd studied at the Australian National University in Canberra where he resided at Burgmann College and graduated with First Class Honours in Arts (Asian Studies). He majored in Chinese language and Chinese history, became proficient in Mandarin and acquired a Chinese name, Lù Kèwén (Chinese: 陸克文 or in Chinese: 陆克文).[36]

Rudd's thesis on Chinese democracy activist Wei Jingsheng[37] was supervised by Pierre Ryckmans, the eminent Belgian-Australian sinologist.[38] During his studies Rudd cleaned the house of political commentator Laurie Oakes to earn money.[39] In 1980 he continued his Chinese studies at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.[40] Delivering the annual Gough Whitlam Lecture at Sydney University on "The Reforming Centre of Australian Politics" in 2008, Rudd praised the former Labor Prime Minister for implementing educational reforms, saying he was:

... a kid who lived Gough Whitlam's dream that every child should have a desk with a lamp on it where he or she could study. A kid whose mum told him after the 1972 election that it might just now be possible for the likes of him to go to university. A kid from the country of no particular means and of no political pedigree who could therefore dream that one day he could make a contribution to our national political life.[41]

In 1981, Rudd married Thérèse Rein whom he had met at a gathering of the Australian Student Christian Movement during his university years. They have three children: Jessica (born 1984), Nicholas (born 1986) and Marcus (born 1993).[42] Rudd's nephew, Van Thanh Rudd is a Melbourne-based artist and activist.[43]

Entry into politics

Rudd joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981, and served there until 1988. He and his wife spent most of the 1980s overseas posted at the Australian embassies in Stockholm, Sweden, and later in Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Returning to Australia in 1988, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Labor Opposition Leader in Queensland, Wayne Goss. He became Chief of Staff to the Premier when the Labor Party won office in 1989, a position he held until 1992, when Goss appointed him Director-General of the Office of Cabinet. In this position Rudd was arguably Queensland's most powerful bureaucrat.[38] In this role he presided over a number of reforms including development of a national program for teaching foreign languages in schools. Rudd was influential in both promoting a policy of developing an Asian languages and cultures program which was unanimously accepted by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 1992 and later chaired a high level Working Group which provided the foundation of the strategy in its report, which is frequently cited as "the Rudd Report".[44]

During this time he underwent a cardiac valve transplant operation (Ross procedure), receiving a cadaveric aortic valve replacement for rheumatic heart disease.[45]

After the Goss government lost office in 1995, Rudd was hired as a Senior China Consultant by the accounting firm KPMG Australia. He held this position while unsuccessfully contesting the federal seat of Griffith at the 1996 federal election. He contested the seat again at the 1998 election and won.

Member of Parliament

Rudd made his first speech to the Australian House of Representatives on 11 November 1998.[46] His most publicised local cause was opposition to a suggested parallel runway at Brisbane Airport, against which he organised one of Brisbane's largest public demonstrations, receiving massive media coverage. His commitment to the issue reduced when the airport altered its plans with the support of Queensland premier Peter Beattie, removing Rudd's constituency from projected flightpaths and, with the advice of the airport's 3PR adviser, renaming it a "staggered" runway, rendering the Rudd campaign's widely distributed "No Parallel Runway" posters out-of-date. The development received legally binding permission to proceed in 2007 under the Howard Government.

Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs: 2001–2005

Kevin Rudd in November 2005

Rudd was promoted to the Opposition front bench following the 2001 election and appointed Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 2002 he met with British intelligence and helped define the position Labor would take in regards to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

There is no debate or dispute as to whether Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. He does. There's no dispute as whether he's in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. He is.[47]

After the fall of Saddam he would criticise the Howard Government over its support for the United States, while maintaining Labor's position of support for the Australian-American alliance.

Well, what Secretary Powell and the US seems to have said is that he now has grave doubts about the accuracy of the case he put to the United Nations about the claim that Iraq possessed biological weapons laboratories – the so-called mobile trailers. And here in Australia, that formed also part of the government's argument on the war. I think what it does is it adds to the fabric of how the Australian people were misled about the reasons for going to war.[48]

Rudd's policy experience and parliamentary performances during the Iraq war made him one of the better known members of the Labor front bench. When Opposition Leader Simon Crean was challenged by his predecessor Kim Beazley in June, Rudd did not publicly commit himself to either candidate.[49] When Crean finally resigned in late November, Rudd was considered a possible candidate for the Labor leadership,[50] however, he announced that he would not run in the leadership ballot, and would instead vote for Kim Beazley.

Rudd was predicted by some commentators to be demoted or moved as a result of his support for Beazley following the election of Mark Latham as Leader, but he retained his portfolio. Relations between Latham and Rudd deteriorated during 2004, especially after Latham made his pledge to withdraw all Australian forces from Iraq by Christmas 2004 without consulting Rudd.[51] After Latham failed to win the October 2004 federal election, Rudd was again spoken of as a possible alternative leader. He retained his foreign affairs portfolio and disavowed any intention of challenging Latham.

When Latham suddenly resigned in January 2005, Rudd was visiting Indonesia and refused to say whether he would be a candidate for the Labor leadership.[52] Such a candidacy would have required him to run against Beazley, his factional colleague. "The important thing for me to do is to consult with my colleagues in the party", he said.[53] After returning from Indonesia, Rudd consulted with Labor MPs in Sydney and Melbourne and announced that he would not contest the leadership. Kim Beazley was subsequently elected leader.

In June 2005 Rudd was given expanded responsibilities as the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Security and, also, the Shadow Minister for Trade.

Leader of the Opposition

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

A November 2006 Newspoll opinion poll indicated voter support for Rudd was double that for Beazley.[54] In December 2006, Beazley declared open the positions of Leader and Deputy leader of the Labor Party, and Rudd announced his candidacy for the leadership.[55][56] Fellow Labor MP Julia Gillard ran alongside Rudd for Deputy Leader against Jenny Macklin. The vote took place on 4 December 2006. Rudd was elected Leader with 49 votes to Beazley's 39. Gillard was elected unopposed as Deputy Leader after Macklin withdrew from the ballot.[57]

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

At his first press conference as leader, having thanked Beazley and former deputy leader Jenny Macklin, Rudd said he would offer a "new style of leadership" and would be an "alternative, not just an echo" of the Howard government. He outlined the areas of industrial relations, the war in Iraq, climate change, Australian federalism, social justice and the future of Australia's manufacturing industry as major policy concerns. Rudd also stressed his long experience in state government and also as a diplomat and in business before entering federal politics.[58]

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).

Rudd and the ALP soon overtook the government in both party and leadership polling. The new leader maintained a high media profile with major announcements on an "education revolution",[59] federalism,[60] climate change,[61] a National Broadband Network,[62] and the domestic car industry. In March 2007 the government raised questions over a series of meetings Rudd had had with former West Australian Labor Premier Brian Burke during 2005, alleging that Rudd had been attempting to use Burke's influence to become Labor leader (after losing office, Burke had spent time in prison before returning to politics as a lobbyist).[63][64] Rudd said that this had not been the purpose of the three meetings and said that they had been arranged by his colleague Graham Edwards, the Member for Cowan.[65]

From 2002, Rudd appeared regularly in interviews and topical discussions on the popular breakfast television program Sunrise, along with federal Liberal MP Joe Hockey. This was credited with helping raise Rudd's public profile.[66] Rudd and Hockey ended these appearances in April 2007 citing the increasing political pressures of an election year.[67]

On 19 August 2007, it was revealed that Rudd, while on a visit to New York as opposition foreign affairs spokesman, had visited a strip club, in September 2003, with New York Post editor Col Allan and Labor backbencher Warren Snowdon. By way of explanation, Rudd said: "I had had too much to drink, I have no recollection (nor does Mr Snowdon) of any incident occurring at the nightclub – or of being asked to leave". "It is our recollection that we left within about an hour".[68][69] The incident generated a lot of media coverage, but made no impact on Rudd's popularity in the polls.[70] Indeed, some people believe that the incident may have enabled Rudd to appear "more human" and lifted his popularity.[71]

2007 election victory

Kevin Rudd campaigning with Kerry Rea in Bonner on 21 September 2007
Main article: Australian federal election, 2007

Electoral writs were issued for an Australian federal election on 17 October 2007.

On 21 October 2007, Rudd presented strongly in a televised debate against incumbent prime minister John Howard.[72]

On 14 November 2007, Kevin Rudd officially launched the ALP election campaign with a policy of fiscal restraint, usually considered the electoral strength of the opposing Liberal party. Rudd proposed Labor spending measures totalling $2.3 billion, contrasting them to $9.4 billion Rudd claimed the Liberals had promised, declaring: "Today, I am saying loud and clear that this sort of reckless spending must stop."[73][74][75][76]

The election was held on 24 November 2007. Labor's win was coined a 'Ruddslide' by the media and was underpinned by the considerable support from Rudd's home state of Queensland, with the state result recording a two party preferred swing of 7.53 percent.[77][78] The nationwide swing was 5.44 percent to Labor, the 3rd largest swing at a federal election since two party estimates began in 1949.

As foreshadowed during the election campaign, on 29 November Rudd directly chose his frontbench, breaking with more than a century of Labor tradition whereby the frontbench was elected by the Labor caucus, with the leader then given the right to allocate portfolios.[79][80]

Prime minister

Main article: Rudd Government

On 3 December 2007, Rudd was sworn in as Prime Minister by the Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery.[81] Rudd was the first Prime Minister to make no mention of the Queen in his oath of office.[82][83]

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

Kevin Rudd was the second Queenslander to lead his party to a federal election victory, the first being Andrew Fisher in 1910. Rudd was the first Prime Minister since World War II not to come from either New South Wales or Victoria and the fourth prime minister from Queensland.

Early initiatives of the Rudd Government included the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, a National Apology to the Stolen Generations and the 2020 Summit. During their first two years in office, Rudd and the ALP government set records for popularity in Newspoll polling.[84][85] By 2010, the Prime Minister's approval ratings had dropped significantly and controversies had arisen over management of economic stimulus following the Global Financial Crisis; the delay of the government's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme; asylum seeker policies; and debate over a proposed "super profits" tax on the mining industry.[86] On 23 June 2010, following significant media speculation and after it became apparent Rudd had lost the support of key factional heads within the Labor Party, deputy prime minister Julia Gillard requested a leadership ballot for the following day, which Rudd announced he would himself contest.[23][24]

Environment

In opposition, Rudd called climate change "the greatest moral, economic and social challenge of our time" and called for a cut to greenhouse gas emissions by 60% before 2050.[87] On 3 December 2007, as his first official act after being sworn in, Rudd signed the Kyoto Protocol.[88] On 15 December 2008, Rudd released a White Paper on reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.[89] The White Paper included a plan to introduce an emissions trading scheme in 2010 that is known as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and gave a target range for Australia's greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 of between 5% and 15% less than 2000 levels.[89] The White Paper was criticised by the Federal Government's climate change advisor, Professor Ross Garnaut.[90] On 4 May 2009 Rudd announced that the Government will delay implementing an emissions trading scheme until 2011. Rudd also deferred his CPRS legislation until 2013.[91][92]

Iraq War

In accordance with a Multinational Force Iraq agreement with the new Iraqi Government,[93] Labor's plan to withdraw the Australian Defence Force "combat" contingent was completed on 28 July 2009, three days ahead of the deadline.[94] In mid-2010, there were about 65 ADF personnel remaining in Iraq supporting UN operations or the Australian Embassy.[95]

Afghanistan War

While shadow minister for foreign affairs, Rudd said that Afghanistan was 'terrorism central'. In July 2005 he said:

It's time to recognise once and for all that terrorism central is Afghanistan. You see, a lot of Jemaah Islamiah's terrorist operations in South East Asia are financed by the reconstitution of the opium crop in Afghanistan – $2.3 billion a year worth of narco-finance flowing out of Afghanistan into terrorist groups here in our region, our neighbourhood, our backyard.[96]

As Prime Minister, Rudd has continued to support Australian military involvement in Afghanistan, despite the growing number of Australian casualties. On 29 April 2009, Rudd committed 450 extra troops to the region bringing the total to 1550.[97] Explaining the deployment he said:

A measured increase in Australian forces in Afghanistan will enhance the security of Australian citizens, given that so many terrorists attacking Australians in the past have been trained in Afghanistan.

On a November 2009 visit to Afghanistan, Rudd told Australian troops: "We from Australia will remain for the long haul."[98] In April 2010, the Australian Government decided not to commit further troops to Uruzgan province to replace Dutch forces when they withdraw, but increased the numbers of diplomatic, development aid, and police personnel to around 50 with military effort and civilian work focussed on Uruzgan.[99]

Leadership challenge and resignation

On 23 June 2010, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Rudd's chief of staff, Alister Jordan, had talked to over half the Labor caucus to gauge the level of Rudd's support within the party. This followed significant media speculation that his deputy, Julia Gillard, would attempt a leadership challenge.[100] Late that evening, after it became clear he had lost the support of key factional leaders, Rudd announced that a leadership ballot would take place between himself and Gillard at 9am AEST on 24 June, which he would be contesting.[101] At the meeting, it was clear that Gillard had the numbers to win and Rudd opted not to contest, stepping down as both party leader and Prime Minister.[25] Rudd was not included in Gillard's reshuffled ministry, though she committed to appoint him to a senior cabinet position if the Labor Party wins re-election.[102]

In the aftermath of the leadership challenge, Bill Shorten, former trade union leader, and key Parliamentary member of the ALP Right Faction, nominated the government's handling of the insulation program; the sudden announcement of change of policy on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme; and the way in which they had "introduced the debate" about the Resource Super Profits Tax as the key considerations which had led to a collapse in support for Rudd's leadership of the Party.[103]

Barry Cohen, a former minister in the Hawke government, has attempted to shed some further light upon the unprecedented leadership challenge and subsequent resignation of the popular, first term Prime Minister. He is of the opinion that many in the Labor party caucus felt ignored by Rudd's centralist leadership style, and his at times insulting and rude treatment of staff and other ministers. Many were willing to overlook this due to his immense popularity, but when Rudd's poll numbers began to drop in late 2009 and 2010, they wanted to install a leader more able to establish consensus and involve the party caucus as a whole.[104]

Domestic policies

Parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generations

Kevin Rudd on television in Federation Square, Melbourne, apologising to the stolen generations.
Main article: Stolen Generations

As the parliament's first order of business, on 13 February 2008, Rudd read an apology directed to Indigenous Australians for the stolen generations. The apology, for the policies of successive parliaments and governments, passed unanimously as a motion by both houses of parliament, and was publicly well received; most criticisms were of Labor for refusing to provide victims with monetary compensation as recommended in the Bringing them Home report, and that the apology would not alleviate disadvantage amongst Indigenous Australians.[105] Rudd pledged the government to bridging the gap between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australian health, education and living conditions, and in a way that respects their rights to self-determination.[106]

Industrial relations

WorkChoices, the industrial relations regime introduced by the Howard government, was overhauled.[107] Rudd's 2007 policy included the phasing out of Australian Workplace Agreements over a period of up to five years, the establishment of a simpler awards system as a safety net, the restoration of unfair dismissal laws for companies with under 100 employees (probation period of 12 months for companies with less than 15 employees), and the retention of the Australian Building and Construction Commission until 2010. It retains the illegality of secondary boycotts, the right of employers to lock workers out, restriction of union right of entry to workplaces, and restrictions on workers' right to strike.[108] Rudd also outlined the establishment of a single industrial relations bureaucracy called Fair Work Australia, which will play a far more interventionist role than the Howard Government's Fair Pay Commission.[109]

Some unions claim it to be "WorkChoices Lite", although the most fundamental elements will be reversed[110] and since then, changes have been made to the legislation which accommodate some union demands. This has led to employer concern over the legislation, as more rigid and expensive wage and other outcomes with employees will be particularly difficult for many businesses to afford during an economic downturn.[111] Business groups have argued that this will contribute to job losses and negative growth in the near future.

Economy

Kevin Rudd (back row, fourth from right) at the G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy.
See also: 2008 Australian federal budget, 2009 Australian federal budget

Upon election to office, the Rudd government announced a five point plan to combat inflation.[112] The first budget of the Rudd government was delivered by Treasurer Wayne Swan in May 2008 and a projected surplus of $21.7 billion was announced.[113] As the global recession began to take hold, the Government guaranteed bank deposits and announced two stimulatory spending packages.[114][115] The first was worth $10.4 billion and announced in late 2008,[116][117] and the second worth $42 billion was announced in February 2009 and included $900 dollar cash payments to resident taxpayers who paid net tax in the 2007–08 financial year.[118][119] After initially raising interest rates to combat inflation, The Reserve Bank cut official interest rates several times in increments of up to 1 percent, and fell to 3 percent in May 2009, the lowest since 1960.[120] The second budget, released in May 2009, projected a $57.6 billion deficit for 2009–10. The majority of the deficit was created by a loss of taxation revenue as a result of the recession, with the rest made up in stimulus and other spending. The downturn was expected to remove $210 billion in taxation revenue from the budget over the next four years.[121]

Following the start of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, increased exports and consumer spending helped the Australian economy avoid recession in 2009. Australia was the only western economy to do so.[122]

As part of its economic stimulus program, the government offered householders a rebate for ceiling insulation. Rudd demoted Peter Garrett, the minister responsible for the program, before abandoning the program altogether in 2010 after 4 deaths and multiple housefires were linked to inadequate oversight of the scheme.[123] The Building the Education Revolution program sought to stimulate the nationwide economy by employing construction workers in school building developments, but came under media scrutiny following allegations of overpricing and bad value for money.[124]

The Rudd Government's third budget in 2010 projected a $40.8 billion deficit for 2010–11 [125] but forecast that Australia would return to surplus by 2012–13. The government proposed a "super profits" tax on the mining industry and included $12 billion in revenue from the proposal in the forecast, although the tax had not been passed by the Senate.[126]

Australia 2020 Summit

In February 2008 Rudd announced the Australia 2020 Summit, held from 19–20 April 2008, which brought together 1000 leading Australians to discuss ten major areas of policy innovation.[127] Among the initiatives supported at the event, the summit voted in favour of a plebiscite on Australia "relinquishing ties" to the United Kingdom followed by a referendum on the model for an Australian republic,[128] a bill of rights, the re-formation of an Indigenous peak representative body similar to ATSIC, (which had been abolished by the Howard Government), the introduction of an Emissions Trading Scheme, and a review of the taxation system.[129]

Findings released in April 2009 reported that nine out of the 1000 submitted ideas were to be immediately enacted and that the government was deliberating on other ideas proposed.[130][131] By mid-2010, among the key reform ideas suggested, Prime Minister Rudd had sought to introduce an ETS, but postponed it after failing to secure passage through the senate;[132] formed a consultative committee on a Bill of Rights then rejected its recommendation for implementation;[133] established the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples in 2010;[134] comissioned the Henry Review of taxation (on the basis of which the Rudd Government proposed a new "super-profits" tax on mining);[135] and Rudd had described the issue of a vote on a republic as not being "a priority".[136]

Education

During the election, Rudd promised a "digital education revolution", including provision of a computer on the desk of every upper secondary student. The program initially stalled with state governments asserting that the proposed funding was inadequate. The federal government has increased proposed funding from $1.2 billion to $2 billion,[137] and will not mandate that a computer must be provided to each upper secondary student.[138] Negotiations with the states are continuing.[139][citation needed]

Immigration

Prime Minister Rudd has said he believes in a 'Big Australia' and the Rudd Government increased the immigration quota after it was elected to around 300,000 people.[140] In 2010, Rudd apointed Tony Burke as population minister to examine population goals.[141]

In 2008, the government adjusted the Mandatory detention policies established by the Howard and Keating governments and declared an end to the Pacific Solution.[142] Boat arrivals increased considerably during 2009 and the Opposition said this was due to the government's policy adjustments, the Government said it was due to "push factors".[143] After a fatal explosion on an asylum seeker boat in April 2009, Rudd said: "People smugglers are the vilest form of human life." Opposition frontbencher Tony Abbott said that Kevin Rudd was inept and hypocritical in his handling of the issue during the Oceanic Viking affair of October 2009.[144] In April 2010, the Rudd government suspended processing new claims by Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers, who comprised 80 per cent of all boat arrivals, for three and six months respectively.[145]

Taxation

Rudd comissioned the Henry Tax Review, to undertake a "root and branch" review of the Australian taxation system. In 2010, the Rudd government pursued its proposal for a new 40% tax on the "super profits" of resource companies to offset a lower corporate tax rate and some adjustments to superannuation.[135][146] In the face of strong opposition from the mining industry, the government exempted itself from its own guidelines on taxpayer-funded advertising and launched an advertising campaign in support of its tax policy proposal.[147] During the 2007 election campaign, Rudd had described tax payer funded political advertising as "a long-term cancer on our democracy", but he said that a government funded campaign was needed in 2010 on this issue.[148][149]

Political positions

Economics

In his first speech to parliament, Rudd stated that:

Competitive markets are massive and generally efficient generators of economic wealth. They must therefore have a central place in the management of the economy. But markets sometimes fail, requiring direct government intervention through instruments such as industry policy. There are also areas where the public good dictates that there should be no market at all. We are not afraid of a vision in the Labor Party, but nor are we afraid of doing the hard policy yards necessary to turn that vision into reality. Parties of the Centre Left around the world are wrestling with a similar challenge – the creation of a competitive economy while advancing the overriding imperative of a just society. Some call this the 'third way'. The nomenclature is unimportant. What is important is that it is a repudiation of Thatcherism and its Australian derivatives represented opposite. It is in fact a new formulation of the nation's economic and social imperatives.[150]

Rudd is critical of free market economists such as Friedrich Hayek,[151] although Rudd describes himself as "basically a conservative when it comes to questions of public financial management", pointing to his slashing of public service jobs as a Queensland governmental advisor.[152] In The Longest Decade by George Megalogenis, Rudd reflected on his views of economic reform undertaken in the past couple of decades:

The Hawke and Keating governments delivered a massive program of economic reform, and they didn't shy away from taking on their own political base when they knew it was in the national interest. Think tariffs. Think cuts to the marginal tax rate. Think enterprise bargaining. Think how unpopular all of those were with the trade union movement of Australia. Mr Howard, on the other hand, never took on his own political base in the prosecution of any significant economic reform. His reform agenda never moved out of the ideological straitjacket of the 1970s and 1980s. Think industrial relations. Think consumption tax. And think also of the explosion in untargeted welfare... When the economic circumstances change, and the demands of a competitive economy change, Mr Howard never adjusted and never took the lead when it came to new ideas. Look at climate change. Look at infrastructure policy. Look at education policy. Look at early childhood education. There's a mountain of economic evidence about the importance of those policy domains to Australia's future.[153][154]

In early 2009,[155] in the wake of the global financial crisis,[156] Rudd stated "that the great neo-liberal experiment of the past 30 years has failed", and that "Neo-liberalism and the free-market fundamentalism it has produced has been revealed as little more than personal greed dressed up as an economic philosophy. And, ironically, it now falls to social democracy to prevent liberal capitalism from cannibalising itself." Rudd called for a new era of "social capitalism" from social democrats such as himself and U.S. President Barack Obama to "support a global financial system that properly balances private incentive with public responsibility".[157][158]

Nationhood and foreign policy

Kevin Rudd (left) and then-US President George W. Bush (right) meet at APEC Australia 2007 in Sydney.
Kevin Rudd (left) and current US President Barack Obama (right) meet in Washington DC.

As shadow foreign minister, Rudd reformulated Labor's foreign policy in terms of "Three Pillars": engagement with the UN, engagement with Asia, and the US alliance.[159]

Although disagreeing with the original commitment to the Iraq War, Rudd supports the continued deployment of Australian troops in Iraq, but not the continued deployment of combat troops. Rudd was also in favour of Australia's military presence in Afghanistan.[160]

Rudd backs the road map for peace plan and defended Israel's actions during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, condemning Hezbollah and Hamas for violating Israeli territory.[161]

The Prime Minister also pledged support for East Timor stating that Australian troops will remain in East Timor for as long as East Timor's government wants them to.[162]

Rudd also gave his support for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia,[163] before Australia officially recognised the republic.[164] This decision sparked protests of the Serbian Australian community against Rudd.[165]

The question of Republicanism in Australia was raised following the failed 1999 referendum, and although Rudd is a republican, he indicated that no referendum would take place in the near future.[166] In 2008 Rudd recommended the appointment of Quentin Bryce as the first female Governor-General of Australia to Queen Elizabeth II.

Society and religion

Some commentators have described Rudd as a social conservative.[167][168] While moving to remove financial discrimination against LGBT couples, he has remained opposed to same-sex marriage:[169]

I have a pretty basic view on this, as reflected in the position adopted by our party, and that is, that marriage is between a man and a woman.[169]

In a conscience vote in 2006, Rudd supported legislation to transfer regulatory authority for the abortion-inducing drug RU486 from the federal Minister For Health to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, removing the minister's veto on the use of RU486 in Australia. Rudd said that "For me and for the reasons I have outlined, the life of the unborn is of great importance. And having tested these reasons with men and women of faith, and men and women of science, that I've decided not to oppose this bill. "[170][171]

In another 2006 Parliamentary conscience vote, Mr Rudd voted against legislation to expand embryonic stem cell research[172]

Rudd and his family attend the Anglican church of St John the Baptist in Bulimba in his electorate. Although raised a Roman Catholic, Rudd began attending Anglican services in the 1980s with his wife.[31] In December 2009, Rudd was spotted at a Catholic Mass to commemorate the canonisation of Mary MacKillop, in which he was administered with the Holy Communion. Rudd's actions provoked criticism and debate among both among political and religious circles.[173][174] A report by The Australian quoted that Rudd embraced Anglicanism but at the same time did not formally renounce his Catholic faith.[175]

Rudd is the mainstay of the parliamentary prayer group in Parliament House, Canberra.[176] He is vocal about his Christianity and has given a number of prominent interviews to the Australian religious press on the topic.[177] Rudd has defended church representatives engaging with policy debates, particularly with respect to WorkChoices legislation, climate change, global poverty, therapeutic cloning and asylum seekers.[178][179] In an essay in The Monthly,[178] he argued:

A [truly] Christian perspective on contemporary policy debates may not prevail. It must nonetheless be argued. And once heard, it must be weighed, together with other arguments from different philosophical traditions, in a fully contestable secular polity. A Christian perspective, informed by a social gospel or Christian socialist tradition, should not be rejected contemptuously by secular politicians as if these views are an unwelcome intrusion into the political sphere. If the churches are barred from participating in the great debates about the values that ultimately underpin our society, our economy and our polity, then we have reached a very strange place indeed.

He cites Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a personal inspiration in this regard.[180]

In May 2008, Rudd was drawn into the controversy over photographic artist Bill Henson and his work depicting naked adolescents as part of a show due to open at an inner-city gallery in Sydney. In a televised interview, Rudd stated that he found the images "absolutely revolting"[181][182][183] and that they had "no artistic merit".[184] These views swiftly drew censure from members of the 'creative stream' who attended the recent 2020 Summit convened by Rudd, led by actor Cate Blanchett.[185]

When in Canberra, Rudd and Rein worship at St John the Baptist Church, Reid, where they were married.[28] Rudd often does a "door stop" interview for the media when leaving the church yard.[186]

Life after Prime Ministership

Since the announcement of the Australian Federal Election, 2010 Rudd has been the centre of much of the media spotlight despite his relatively lowly current status in the party as a backbencher. This has included allegations made by News Limited that former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer claimed that Rudd had prior to the 2007 election been the sources of leaked information given him by the Howard government, so that he could discredit then Foreign Affairs spokesman Laurie Bereton. This has been denied by both Rudd and Downer who has said that "The interpretation placed on my comments to the Sunday Telegraph is wrong" and that "Kevin Rudd was not used by me or other members of the Liberal Party as a so-called 'double agent' to leak material against other members of the Labor Party."

See also

References

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Bibliography

  • Crabb, Annabel. Rise of the Ruddbot:Observations from the Gallery. Melbourne : Black Inc., 2010. ISBN 978-1-86395-483-9
  • Hartcher, Peter. To the Bitter End : The Dramatic Story of the Fall of John Howard and the Rise of Kevin Rudd. Crows Nest, NSW:Allen & Unwin, 2009. ISBN 978-1-74175-623-4
  • Macklin, Robert. Kevin Rudd : The Biography, Camberwell, Vic.: Penguin Books Australia, 2007. ISBN 978-0-67007-135-7
  • Marr, David. Power Trip : The Political Journey of Kevin Rudd, Melbourne : Black Inc., 2010. [Quarterly Essay, Issue 38] ISBN 978-1-86395-477-8
  • Stuart, Nicholas, Kevin Rudd : An Unauthorised Political Biography, Melbourne:Scribe, 2007. ISBN 978-1-92121-558-2
  • Weller, Patrick, Kevin Rudd:The Making of a Prime Minister, Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-52285-748-1

web|http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/01/2970025.htm}}

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Griffith
1998–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Labor Party
2006–2010 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
2006–2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Australia
2007–2010 		Succeeded by
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