Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd
26th Prime Minister of Australia
In office 3 December 2007 – 24 June 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II of Australia
Governor General	Michael Jeffery Quentin Bryce
Deputy	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	John Howard
Succeeded by	Julia Gillard
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 14 September 2010 – 22 February 2012
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Stephen Smith
Succeeded by	Bob Carr
Personal details
Born	21 September 1957 Nambour, Queensland
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Thérèse Rein
Children	Jessica Marcus Nicholas

Kevin Rudd (born 21 September 1957) was the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs from 14 September 2010 to 22 February 2012. He was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and the leader of the federal Australian Labor party from 2006 to 2010. He won the federal 2007 election and was Australia's 26th prime minister until 24 June 2010, when his deputy Julia Gillard challenged and replaced him. Following the 2010 Australia election, he became Foreign Minister.

Rudd went to the Australian National University and studied International Studies. He learned to speak the Chinese language. He became a diplomat for the Australian government. He lived and worked in Sweden, and later in China. Rudd won a seat in Parliament in 1998. The Australian Labor party elected him the Leader of the Opposition in December 2006. After 11 years of the Liberal Party being in power, the Labor Party won the 2007 federal election. During the election Rudd talked a lot about work agreements (industrial relations laws) and global warming. As prime minister he signed the Kyoto Protocol and "apologised" to Aboriginal Australians for bad things done by the government long ago. He spoke about human rights in China in the Chinese language to Chinese students. Australia and China were doing lots of trade, but the Chinese government did not like this talk. He also supported the Afghanistan war and took Australian troops out of the Iraq conflict.

Rudd was Prime Minister at the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis. His government, with Wayne Swan as treasurer, spent a lot of money to try and keep the economy going. Australia did not have a recession, but management of this government spending started problems for Rudd. His government was seen as being unable to cope with and this started to affect Rudd's popularity.

Rudd planned a new tax on the huge profits being made mining companies in Australia. These companies and their leaders started a huge advertising campaign against the Labor government. He also decided to delay his election promises to do something about Global Warming. His leadership style was unpopular with many members of the Labor Party. members of parliament felt that they were not able to take part in making important decisions. They felt that Rudd left things until the last moment, and then acted quickly when things had almost became a crisis. With these things happening, the Labor Party decided that there had to be some changes. Realizing that he had lost support, Rudd resigned as leader of the Labor Party, and as Prime Minister. Julia Gillard was elected to the position of leader, and therefore prime minister. He was really sad. Gillard promised that Rudd would be made Foreign Minister if they won the 2010 election.

After the 2010 Election, Gillard chose Rudd to be Foreign Minister. In February 2012, Rudd decided that he should again be leader of the Labor Party. He said he could not work with Gillard because she did not trust him. He resigned as Foreign Minister, and said he would challenge Gillard for the leadership. The Labor Party held a meeting on 27 February 2012 and held a new vote for the leader's position. Rudd only received 31 votes while Gillard got 71 votes. Rudd returned to the backbench, and not have any positions of responsibility in the government. On 31 May 2012 Rudd became a grandfather when his daughter Jessica gave birth to a baby girl.

Other websites

• "Profile: Kevin Rudd". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7043713.stm. Retrieved 2011-05-16.
• "Kevin Rudd". National Archives of Australia. http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/rudd/. Retrieved 2011-05-16.</