Anthony Albanese has appointed the former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd as the next Australian ambassador to the United States.
The prime minister made the announcement in Canberra on Tuesday, confirming months of speculation that Rudd was a frontrunner for Australia’s key diplomatic post in Washington DC.
Albanese said Australia would be well served with a representative of Rudd’s standing “at a time when our region is being reshaped by strategic competition” between the US and China.
Albanese told reporters the appointment would be seen within the US as a “very significant” one, given Rudd’s stature as a former prime minister and former foreign affairs minister. Albanese also cited Rudd’s extensive contacts in the US.
In recent years, Rudd has served as global president and chief executive of the international relations institute the Asia Society.
He has also been an outspoken critic of former US president Donald Trump and has led a campaign for a royal commission into News Corp’s dominance of the Australian media.
Rudd told a Senate inquiry last year that Australian politicians were frightened of Rupert Murdoch and that the “Murdoch mob” was seeking “compliant politicians”.
On Tuesday, Albanese was asked about the previous criticisms of Rudd levelled by some of his Labor party colleagues during the internal upheaval during its last term of government – including descriptions of him as a micromanager.
Albanese responded by saying Rudd was “an outstanding appointment” who brought “a great deal of credit to Australia by agreeing to take up this position”.
Albanese added that Rudd would be “a major asset” to assist the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong.
“I am very pleased that Kevin Rudd is prepared 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 – and I am sure that he will serve very well.”
Rudd ‘greatly honoured’
Rudd said on Tuesday he was “greatly honoured” by the government’s decision to nominate him as the next ambassador.
In a statement, Rudd said Australia faced its most challenging security and diplomatic environment for decades, and its national interest would be served by “the deepest and most effective strategic engagement of the United States in our region”.
Despite his past criticism of Republicans who wanted to “avoid upsetting Trump”, Rudd said he had had the pleasure over the past decade of “building relationships with Republicans and Democrats across politics”.
He said he looked forward to “strengthening the bonds between our two countries”.
Rudd replaces the former Liberal minister Arthur Sinodinos, who is due to complete his term as ambassador to the US early next year.
Albanese, who is personally close to Rudd, briefly served as his deputy prime minister after Julia Gillard was ousted as prime minister shortly before the 2013 election that the Coalition went on to win.
The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, did not criticise Rudd’s appointment, but noted Albanese had “personally chosen a friend and confidant” for the position.
Birmingham said the delivery of the Aukus partnership and the response to strategic challenges would “discipline, sensitivity and drive” from the new ambassador.
“Above all else, the Coalition looks to Mr Rudd and all of the new appointments to deliver on Australia’s national interests first and foremost,” Birmingham said.
Rudd’s potential appointment as ambassador has been the subject of renewed speculation over the past few months, after the claims were dismissed before the election.
The Australian newspaper reported in April that Albanese had told some senior colleagues he favoured appointing Rudd as the ambassador to the US if Labor won the election.
That report prompted Albanese to say he had had “no discussions about anyone being an ambassador to any place” and the story was “complete nonsense” – but he did not rule out appointing Rudd.
At the time, Rudd had also branded that claim as “total garbage” and said he had sent a letter to “the toothless Australian Press Council” seeking a correction and apology from the Australian.
Total garbage on today’s front page of Murdoch's @australian. Here’s a letter I’ve just sent to the toothless Australian Press Council. Looking forward to their adjudication sometime in the next decade, which Murdoch will naturally ignore. #MurdochRoyalCommission pic.twitter.com/Zb70braVX5
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) April 19, 2022
The government announced a range of other diplomatic appointments on Tuesday, including the former Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout as Australia’s consul general in New York.
The outgoing ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bronte Moules, will take up the newly created position of Australian ambassador for human rights.
Wong said the appointments aimed to “restore Australia’s commitment to human rights around the world”.
Six career diplomats were also named as ambassadors or high commissioners to Brazil, Israel, Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe, Croatia and the Cook Islands.
