page_title: Kevin Rudd
section_title: Foreign Minister (2010–12)
hierarchical_section_title: Kevin Rudd / Foreign Minister (2010–12)
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a joint press availability with Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd following their bilateral meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on September 17, 2010
context_page_description: Kevin Michael Rudd AC is an Australian former politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from December 2007 to June 2010 and again from June to September 2013. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party.
  Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland. He has a degree in Chinese studies from the Australian National University, and is fluent in Mandarin. Before entering politics, he worked as a diplomat, political staffer, and public servant. Rudd was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1998 election, running in the Division of Griffith. He was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in 2001 as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. In December 2006, he successfully challenged Kim Beazley to become the Leader of the Labor Party. Under Rudd, Labor overtook the incumbent Coalition government led by John Howard in the polls, making a number of policy announcements in education, health, industrial relations, and climate change.
  Labor won the 2007 election by a landslide, with a 23-seat swing in its favour. The Rudd Government's first acts included signing the Kyoto Protocol and delivering an apology to Indigenous Australians for the Stolen Generations.
context_section_description: Prime Minister Julia Gillard appointed Rudd as Minister for Foreign Affairs in Cabinet on 14 September 2010. He represented Gillard at a UN General Assembly meeting in September 2010.
  WikiLeaks, in 2010, published material about Kevin Rudd's term as prime minister, included United States diplomatic cables leak. As foreign minister, Rudd denounced publishing classified documents by WikiLeaks. The Australian media reported, references to Rudd in the cables included frank discussions between Rudd and US officials about China and Afghanistan. This included negative assessments of some of Rudd's foreign policy initiatives and leadership style, written in confidence for the US Government by the US Embassy staff in Australia.
  Before his first visit to Israel as Foreign Minister, Rudd stated Israel should be subject to International Atomic Energy Agency inspection. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman rejected the call.
  Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution and resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Rudd called for "constitutional reform and a clear timetable towards free and fair elections".
  In response to the 2011 Libyan civil war, Rudd announced in early March 2011, the international community should enforce a no-fly zone, as the "lesser of two evils". The US officials in Canberra sought clarification on what the Australian Government was proposing. Ms Gillard said the United Nations Security Council should consider a full range of alternatives, and that Australia was not planning to send forces to enforce a no-fly zone.
  Following the devastating 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Rudd announced after talking with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto, he had offered Australian field hospitals and disaster victim identification teams to help with recovery. He also said he had offered Australian atomic expertise and sought urgent briefings following an explosion at a nuclear plant.
  Rudd announced his resignation as Foreign Minister on 22 February 2012, citing Gillard's failure to counter character attacks launched by Simon Crean and "other faceless men" as his reasons. Speaking to the press, Rudd explained that he considered Gillard's silence as evidence that she no longer supported him, and therefore he could not continue in office. "I can only serve as Foreign Minister if I have the confidence of Prime Minister Gillard and her senior ministers," he said.
  Rudd resigned as the Minister for Foreign Affairs followed heated speculation about a possible leadership spill. Craig Emerson temporarily replaced Rudd as Minister for Foreign Affairs, until Senator Bob Carr became Minister for Foreign Affairs on 13 March 2012.
caption: Rudd with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in September 2010
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