Sussan Ley has walked back her calls for Kevin Rudd to be sacked as Australia’s ambassador to the US, after earlier saying his position was “untenable” after comments from the US president.
The former Australian prime minister sat across from Donald Trump on Tuesday as he inked a deal on critical minerals with Anthony Albanese in a bid to break China’s stronghold on the market.
Trump appeared to joke that he doesn’t like Rudd, and “probably never will”, after a reporter asked about the ambassador’s 2020 comments describing him as “the most destructive president in history”.
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Rudd reportedly apologised to Trump after the press conference, and Trump responded “all is forgiven”.
Ley had said on Tuesday she didn’t believe Rudd should stay in the role after Trump’s comments, adding “to see the prime minister actually laughing at his own ambassador in the room when the president made a joke, I think it’s untenable”.
On Wednesday, Ley distanced herself from her comments the previous day, acknowledging the role is a “big job”.
“Kevin Rudd is the prime minister’s choice for ambassador. It’s a big job. What was clear yesterday was that the prime minister has a lot of catching up to do with respect to the relationship with the US and the next steps,” the opposition leader said.
“I welcomed yesterday that important first moves and meetings have happened, but there is a lot more to happen, including the relief on tariffs that other countries have been able to secure.”
The former shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, had earlier described calls for Rudd to be removed a “little bit churlish”.
“There is no doubt that that the president made a bit of a goose of Kevin Rudd, and perhaps so he should for those ill-advised, ill-considered tweets that he made, but that was a while ago,” she said.
“I think, though, that the call for Kevin Rudd to resign or stand down, the call for his position to be untenable now, is probably a little bit churlish.”
Hume said Rudd’s work on critical minerals and rare earths was “good” and the successful meeting between Trump and Albanese was a “team Australia moment”.
“It’s something that we should acknowledge and celebrate,” she said.
Albanese said he didn’t believe the exchange had damaged Trump’s views of Australia, dismissing any calls for Rudd to lose his job as Canberra’s man in Washington DC.
“Kevin Rudd is doing a fantastic job as the ambassador. I’ve got to say, up on [Capitol Hill], every single person who we met with this morning all said exactly the same thing,” he said at a press conference.
Rudd has been the ambassador to the US since December 2022. Before winning his second presidency, Trump labelled Rudd “nasty” and claimed he “won’t be there long” in an interview with the former British conservative politician Nigel Farage in March 2024.
“I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb. But I don’t know much about him,” Trump said.
“But if he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”
The foreign affairs department confirmed in November 2024 Rudd’s social media posts critical of Trump were removed to avoid them “being misconstrued”.
