Kevin Rudd confirmed as Foreign Minister

[cal04]

Source: AAP

FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd is to be Foreign Affairs minister in the new Julia Gillard government.

A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard confirmed that Mr Rudd, a Mandarin speaking former diplomat who was Labor foreign affairs spokesman while in opposition, would take over from Stephen Smith who has held the job since Labor won the 2007 election.

Following his ousting as prime minister, Ms Gillard promised him a senior frontbench position with speculation covering foreign affairs plus some other possibilities.

Mr Smith in turn takes over the defence portfolio, vacated by John Faulkner who announced before the election he was standing aside.

Read more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/kevin-rudd-confirmed-as-foreign-minister/story-fn3dxity-1225918205414

[nyy1998]

1. I actually liked Rudd a lot

He went down trying to get a tax on mining companies(in order to help the environment), and he knows the Asia Pacific region well(he's traveled extensively and I believe he knows Mandarin if I'm not mistaken)

[depakid]

2. Rudd's a good man, but he went down for many of the same reasons that the Obama administration

has lost so much support.

He failed to stand up and fight for policies he believed in (the crux was abandoning the Emissions Trading Scheme) and his cabinet was too insular, disconnected and subject to group think (which in one example, put forth the mining tax without even any consultation with the Resources Minister)

Thus, he lost credibility and the confidence of the electorate (after also having lost control of the narrative to the opposition for many months).

Labor with its new leader Julia Gillard further exacerbated these trends by pandering to the right or waffling on several media driven issues- and was nearly booted out completely, despite having steered the nation clear of recession throughout the financial crisis.

(Nationwide unemployment is 5.1% and falling).

There's a lesson here for the Democratic leadership- and Democrats on this site- though if the past is any indication, most will willfully fail to learn it- even after November 2nd.

[Kringle]

3. do you reallly believe that?

looks to me like a run of the mill
political backstabbing

[depakid]

4. It's not what I believe, but what the general consensus is

Read about it in the non Murdoch press- or ask people who live in the country for yourself.