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2UE is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by Fairfax Media. It is Sydney's and Australia's oldest commercial radio station, first broadcasting on 26 January 1925 on 1025 kHz AM before moving to 950 kHz in 1935 when virtually all Australian radio stations were assigned new frequencies. In 1978, 2UE moved to 954 kHz. It is located at the studios in Greenwich, New South Wales in Sydney's North Shore. In 1999, the radio station was at the centre of the cash for comment affair.

2UE has a news/talk format, involving current affairs oriented programs with talkback across the day and more relaxed programming at nights and on weekends. News updates are broadcast at the top of every hour, with news coming from its own Sydney newsroom.

It has been a constant rival of another Sydney station 2GB, which offers a similar format. 2UE suffered major blows when long time breakfast program host Alan Jones moved across to the 2GB breakfast program and when broadcaster John Laws retired from radio, leaving his 2UE morning program at the end of 2007.

Presenters[link]

Current presenters are listed below as of 2012:^[1]

• Breakfast with Jason Morrison
• Mornings with Stuart Bocking
• Afternoons with The Two Murrays - Murray Olds & Murray Wilton
• Drive with Paul Murray
• Sports Today with John Gibbs, Greg Alexander aka Brandy, Tim Webster & Rebecca Wilson
• Nights with David Oldfield
• New Day Australia with Tim Shaw and John Kerr

Cash for comment[link]

2UE was the centre of the cash for comment affair, an Australian scandal that broke in 1999. It concerned paid advertising on talk back radio that was presented to the audience in such a way as to sound like editorial commentary. The affair was first reported on the ABC program Media Watch by reporters Richard Ackland, Deborah Richards and Ann Connelly. They revealed that 2UE hosts John Laws and Alan Jones had been paid to give favourable comment to companies including Qantas, Optus, Foxtel, Mirvac and major Australian banks, without disclosing this arrangement to listeners. The Australian Broadcasting Authority found that John Laws, Alan Jones, and 2UE had committed 90 breaches of the industry code and five breaches of 2UE's license conditions. 2UE was fined $360,000 for John Laws's improper conduct.^[2]

Controversy[link]

A number of parties have attempted to sue 2UE for defamation. In February 2012 Mamdouh Habib won his claim and was awarded almost $150,000.^[3] 2UE was found to have defamed journalist Ray Chesterton in an August 2005 broadcast made by John Laws.^[4]

See also[link]

Australia portal

• List of Australian radio stations

References[link]

External links[link]

• 2UE website
• Listen to 2UE online

The Honourable Paul Keating
24th Prime Minister of Australia Elections: 1993, 1996
In office 20 December 1991 – 11 March 1996
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Bill Hayden Sir William Deane
Deputy	Brian Howe Kim Beazley
Preceded by	Bob Hawke
Succeeded by	John Howard
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
In office 4 April 1990 – 3 June 1991
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke
Preceded by	Lionel Bowen
Succeeded by	Brian Howe
30th Treasurer of Australia
In office 11 March 1983 – 3 June 1991
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke
Preceded by	John Howard
Succeeded by	Bob Hawke
Member of the Australian Parliament for Blaxland
In office 25 October 1969 – 23 April 1996
Preceded by	James Harrison
Succeeded by	Michael Hatton
Personal details
Born	(1944-01-18) 18 January 1944 (age 68) Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Annita van Iersel
Children	4

Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is a former Australian politician who served as the 24th Prime Minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996.

Keating was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 1969 election as the Labor member for Blaxland in New South Wales. He came to prominence as the reformist Treasurer of the government of Bob Hawke, which came to power at the 1983 election. In 1991, Keating defeated Hawke for the Labor leadership in a partyroom ballot and became prime minister. He went on to lead Labor to a record fifth consecutive victory at the 1993 election against the Liberal-National coalition led by John Hewson. Many had considered this election unwinnable for Labor due to poor polls for the 10-year-incumbent federal Labor government, and the effects of the early 1990s recession on Australia. Keating Labor lost the subsequent 1996 election to the Liberal/National Coalition led by John Howard.

Early life[link]

Keating grew up in Bankstown, a working-class suburb of Sydney. He was one of four children of Matthew Keating, a boilermaker and trade-union representative of Irish Catholic descent, and his wife, Minnie. Keating was educated at Catholic schools; he was the first practising Catholic Labor prime minister since James Scullin left office in 1932. Leaving De La Salle College Bankstown (now LaSalle Catholic College) at 15, Keating decided not to pursue higher education, and worked as a clerk at the Electricity Commission of New South Wales and then as a trade union research assistant. He joined the Labor Party as soon as he was eligible. In 1966, he became president of the ALP’s Youth Council.^[1] In the 1960s Keating managed ‘The Ramrods’ rock band.^[2]

Entry into politics[link]

Keating at age 35, second from left, with other ALP figures (from left) Colin Jamieson, Peter Walsh and David Combe

Through the unions and the NSW Young Labor Council, Keating met other future Labor figures such as Laurie Brereton, Graham Richardson and Bob Carr. He also developed a friendship and discussed politics with former New South Wales Labor premier Jack Lang, then in his 90s. In 1971, he succeeded in having Lang re-admitted to the Labor Party.^[3] Using his extensive contacts Keating gained Labor endorsement for the federal seat of Blaxland in the western suburbs of Sydney and was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1969 election when he was 25 years of age.^[1]

Keating was a backbencher for most of the period of the Whitlam Government (December 1972 – November 1975). He briefly became Minister for the Northern Territory in late October 1975, but lost that post when the Whitlam Government was dismissed by Sir John Kerr on 11 November 1975. After Labor's defeat in 1975, Keating became an opposition frontbencher and, in 1981, he became president of the New South Wales branch of the party and thus leader of the dominant right-wing faction. As opposition spokesperson on energy, his parliamentary style was that of an aggressive debater. He initially supported Bill Hayden against Bob Hawke's leadership challenges, partly because he hoped to succeed Hayden himself.^[4] However, by July 1982, as the leader of the New South Wales right-wing faction, he had to accept, at least nominally, his own faction's endorsement of Hawke's challenge. The formal announcement by Keating, as the faction leader, was actually penned by Gareth Evans.^[5]

Treasurer: 1983–1991[link]

Following the Labor Party's victory in the March 1983 election, Keating was appointed treasurer, a post he held until 1991. Keating succeeded John Howard as treasurer and was able to use the size of the budget deficit to attack the former treasurer, and question the economic credibility of the Liberal-National coalition. That the deficit had significantly blown out in the lead up to the election was not disclosed by the Liberal-National coalition government.^[6] The incoming Hawke Labor government only learned about the extent of the deficit when briefed by Treasury officials after the election. According to Bob Hawke, the historically large $9.6 billion budget deficit left by the Coalition ‘became a stick with which we were justifiably able to beat the Liberal National Party Opposition for many years’.^[6] Although, as the former treasurer, Howard was ‘discredited’^[7] by the budget blowout, he had argued unsuccessfully against Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, that the revised figures should be disclosed before the election.^[8]

1983 ABC news report on the first day of trading with a floating Australian dollar.

Keating was one of the driving forces behind the various microeconomic reforms of the Hawke government.^[9] The Hawke/Keating governments of 1983–1996 pursued economic policies and restructuring such as floating the Australian dollar in 1983, reducing tariffs on imports, taxation reforms, moving from centralised wage-fixing to enterprise bargaining, privatisation of publicly-owned companies such as Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank, and deregulation of the banking system. Keating was instrumental in the introduction of the Prices and Incomes Accord, an agreement between the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the government to negotiate wages. His management of the Accord, and close working relationship with ACTU leader Bill Kelty, was a source of tremendous political power for Keating. Keating was able to bypass cabinet in many instances, notably in the exercise of monetary policy.^[10]

In 1985, Keating championed introduction of a broad-based consumption tax, similar to the goods and services tax (GST) of the Howard government.^[11][12] During the 1984 election campaign, Hawke had promised a policy paper on taxation reform to be discussed with all stakeholders at a tax summit. Three options - A, B and C - were presented in the Draft White Paper, with Keating and his Treasury colleagues fiercely advocating for Option C, which included a consumption tax of 15% on goods and services along with reductions in personal and company income tax, a fringe benefits tax and a capital gains tax. Although Keating was able to win the support of a reluctant cabinet, in the face of opposition from the public, the welfare lobby, the ACTU, and the business community, Hawke intervened to drop the consumption tax. Many of the remainder of the reforms were adopted in the September 1985 tax reform package, but the loss of the consumption tax was a bitter defeat for Keating. However, he joked about it at the press conference saying, "It's a bit like Ben Hur. We've crossed the line with one wheel off, but we have crossed the line."^[13]

Keating's tenure as treasurer and prime minister is often criticised for high interest rates and the 1990s recession - the so-called "recession we had to have". Through the 1980s both the global and Australian economy grew quickly and by the late 1980s was overheating, with inflation around 8 to 10 percent. By 1988 the Reserve Bank of Australia began tightening monetary policy, and household interest rates peaked at 18 percent. It is often said that the Bank was too slow in easing monetary policy, and that this ultimately led to a recession. In private, Keating had argued for rates to rise earlier than they did, and fall sooner, although his view was at odds with the Reserve Bank and his Treasury colleagues.^[10][14] Publicly, Hawke and Keating had said there would be no recession - or there would be a "soft landing" - but this changed when Keating announced the country was indeed in recession - "this was the recession we had to have" he famously added. According to Paul Kelly, "It was perhaps the most stupid remark of his career and it nearly cost him the prime ministership. However — it is largely true — the boom begat the recession."^[15] During the subsequent Howard Government (1996–2007), Keating often criticised Howard for taking credit for the relatively good economic conditions Australia experienced over the latter half of Howard's time as prime minister, without acknowledging that the 1990s recession ended the inflation problem.^[16]

At a 1988 meeting at Kirribilli House, Hawke and Keating discussed the handover of the leadership to Keating. Hawke agreed in front of two witnesses that he would resign in Keating's favour after the 1990 election.^[10] The Deputy Prime Minister, Lionel Bowen, retired at the 1990 election, and Keating was appointed Deputy to Hawke. In June 1991, after Hawke had intimated to Keating that he planned to renege on the deal on the basis that Keating had been publicly disloyal and moreover was less popular than Hawke, Keating challenged him for the leadership. He lost (Hawke won 66–44 in the party room ballot),^[17] resigned as Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister, and declared in a press conference that he had fired his 'one shot'.^[18] Publicly, at least, this made his leadership ambitions unclear. Having lost the first challenge to Hawke, Keating realised that events would have to move very much in his favour for a second challenge to be even possible.^[19]

Several factors contributed to the success of Keating’s second challenge in December 1991. Over the remainder of 1991, the economy showed no signs of recovery from the recession, and unemployment continued to rise.^[20][21] Some of Keating’s supporters undermined the government.^[20] The Government was polling poorly.^[19] Perhaps more significantly, Liberal leader John Hewson introduced 'Fightback!', an economic policy package, which, according to Keating’s biographer, John Edwards, ‘appeared to astonish and stun Hawke’s cabinet’.^[22] According to Edwards, ‘Hawke was unprepared to attack it and responded with windy rhetoric’.^[22] After Fightback!, Keating ‘did practically nothing’ as Hawke’s support dwindled and the numbers moved in Keating’s favour.^[23] On 19 December 1991, Keating defeated Hawke in a party-room ballot for the leadership by 56 votes to 51, and become Prime Minister the following day.

Prime Minister: 1991–1996[link]

Keating's agenda included making Australia a republic, reconciliation with Australia's indigenous population, and furthering economic and cultural ties with Asia. The addressing of these issues came to be known as Keating's "big picture."^[24] Keating's legislative program included establishing the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), a review of the Sex Discrimination Act,^{[clarification needed]} and native title rights of Australia's indigenous peoples following the Mabo High Court decision. He developed bilateral links with Australia's neighbours – he frequently said there was no other country in the world more important to Australia than Indonesia^[25] – and took an active role in the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), initiating the annual leaders' meeting. One of Keating's far-reaching legislative achievements was the introduction of a national superannuation scheme, implemented to address low national savings. Keating introduced mandatory detention for asylum seekers in 1992.^[26] On 10 December 1992, Keating delivered the Redfern Speech on Aboriginal reconciliation.^[27][28]

Keating (right) and US President Bill Clinton (left) in 1993.

Most commentators believed the 1993 election was "unwinnable" for Labor; the government had been in power for 10 years and the pace of economic recovery from the early 1990s recession was 'weak and slow'.^[29] However, Keating succeeded in winning back the electorate with a strong campaign opposing Fightback and a focus on creating jobs to reduce unemployment. Keating led Labor to an unexpected election victory, made memorable by his "true believers" victory speech.^[30][31] After Keating, some of the reforms of Fightback were implemented under the centre-right coalition government of John Howard, such as the GST.

In December 1993, Keating was involved in a diplomatic incident with Malaysia, over Keating's description of Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad as "recalcitrant". The incident occurred after Dr. Mahathir refused to attend the 1993 APEC summit. Keating said, "APEC is bigger than all of us – Australia, the U.S. and Malaysia and Dr. Mahathir and any other recalcitrants." Dr. Mahathir demanded an apology from Keating, and threatened to reduce diplomatic and trade ties with Australia, which became an enormous concern to Australian exporters. Some Malaysian officials talked of launching a "Buy Australian Last" campaign.^[32] Keating eventually apologised to Mahathir over the remark.

Keating's friendship with Indonesian President Suharto was criticised by human rights activists supportive of East Timorese independence and by Nobel Peace Prize winner, José Ramos-Horta (later to be East Timor's prime minister and president). The Keating government's cooperation with the Indonesian military and the signing of the Timor Gap Treaty were also criticised.^[33]

Defeat[link]

John Hewson was replaced as Liberal party leader by Alexander Downer in 1994. But Downer's leadership was marred by gaffes, and he resigned in 1995. He was succeeded by John Howard, who had previously led the party from 1986 to 1989. Under Howard, the Coalition moved ahead of Labor in opinion polls and Keating was unable to wrest back the lead. The first warning sign of a swing away from Labor came in March 1995, when Labor lost Canberra in a by-election. Later in 1995, Queensland Labor barely held onto its majority at the 1995 state election before losing it altogether in a 1996 by-election held a week after Keating called a federal election for March. Later, defeated Queensland Premier Wayne Goss said that the people of his state had turned so violently on Keating that they were "sitting on their verandas with baseball bats" waiting for the writs to drop.

Howard, determined to avoid a repetition of the 1993 election, adopted a "small target" strategy – committing to keep Labor reforms such as Medicare, and defusing the republic issue by promising to hold a constitutional convention. This allowed Howard to focus the election on the economy and memory of the early 1990s recession, and on the longevity of the Labor government, which in 1996 had been in power for 13 years.

At the 1996 election, the Keating Government was swept from power in a landslide, losing 29 seats and suffering a five percent two party preferred swing--in terms of seats lost, the second-worst defeat of a sitting government at the federal level in Australia. Keating immediately resigned as Labor Party leader, and resigned from Parliament a little over a month later, on 23 April 1996.^[34]

After politics[link]

Since leaving parliament, Keating has been a director of various companies,^[35] and an adviser to Lazard, an investment banking firm.^[36]

In 1997 Keating declined appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia, which has been offered to all exiting prime ministers since the present Australian Honours System was introduced in 1975.^[37]

In 2000, he published a book, Engagement: Australia Faces the Asia-Pacific, which focused on foreign policy during his term as prime minister.^[38]

In 2002, Keating's former speechwriter and adviser, Don Watson, published Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM. The book first drew criticism from Keating's estranged wife, Annita Keating, who said that it understated her contribution, a complaint Watson rejected.^[39] Keating himself was so unhappy with the book that it brought the two men's friendship to an end.^[40] Their antagonism has crystallised, in part, around the authorship of the Redfern Speech, which Watson claimed for himself in Recollections of a Bleeding Heart and elsewhere, crediting Keating only with reading his text unchanged.^[41] Keating has disputed this account.^[42]

During Howard's prime ministership, Keating made occasional speeches strongly criticising his successor's social policies, and defending his own policies, such as those on East Timor. Keating described Howard as a "desiccated coconut" who was "Araldited to the seat" and that "Howard ... is an old antediluvian 19th century person who wanted to stomp forever ... on ordinary people's rights to organise themselves at work ... he's a pre-Copernican obscurantist", when criticising the Howard government's WorkChoices policy.^[43] He described Howard's deputy, Peter Costello, as being "all tip and no iceberg" when referring to a pact made by Howard to hand the prime ministership over to Costello after two terms.^[44] On Labor's victory at the 2007 election, Keating said that he was relieved, rather than happy, that the Howard government had been removed. He claimed that there was "Relief that the nation had put itself back on course. Relief that the toxicity of the Liberal social agenda – the active disparagement of particular classes and groups, that feeling of alienation in your own country – was over."^[45]

In May 2007, Keating suggested that Sydney, rather than Canberra, should be the capital of Australia, saying that:

John Howard has already effectively moved the Parliament here. Cabinet meets in Philip Street in Sydney, and when they do go to Canberra, they fly down to the bush capital, and everybody flies out on Friday. There is an air of unreality about Canberra. If Parliament sat in Sydney, they would have a better understanding of the problems being faced by their constituents. These real things are camouflaged from Canberra.^[46]

Keating was critical of the then opposition leader (and later prime minister) Kevin Rudd's leadership team. For example, before the 2007 federal election, which Labor won, he criticised the then opposition industrial relations spokesperson Julia Gillard, saying she lacked an understanding of principles such as enterprise-bargaining set under his government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He also attacked Rudd's chief of staff David Epstein and Gary Gray, who was at that time a candidate for Kim Beazley's seat of Brand, to which he was elected in 2007.^[47]

In February 2008, Keating joined former prime ministers Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke in Parliament House, Canberra, to witness the parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generations.^[48]

In August 2008, he spoke at the book launch of Unfinished Business: Paul Keating's Interrupted Revolution, authored by economist David Love. Among the topics discussed during the launch were the need to increase compulsory superannuation contributions, as well as to restore incentives (removed under Howard/Costello) for people to receive their superannuation payments in annuities.^[49]

Keating is currently a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the University of New South Wales. He has been awarded honorary doctorates in law from Keio University in Tokyo, the National University of Singapore, and the University of New South Wales^[37]

Personal life[link]

In 1975, Keating married Annita van Iersel, a Dutch flight attendant for Alitalia. The Keatings had four children, who spent some of their teenage years in The Lodge, the Prime Minister's official residence in Canberra. The couple separated in November 1998.

Keating's daughter, Katherine, is a former adviser to former New South Wales minister Craig Knowles.^[50]

Keating's interests include the music of Gustav Mahler^[51] and collecting French antique clocks.^[1] He now resides in Potts Point, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.

See also[link]

Bust of Paul Keating by political cartoonist, caricaturist and sculptor Peter Nicholson located in the Prime Minister's Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens

• First Keating Ministry
• Second Keating Ministry
• Keating! The Musical
• Redfern Speech

Further reading[link]

• Carew, Edna (1991), Paul Keating Prime Minister, Allen and Unwin.
• Edwards, John (1996), Keating: The Inside Story, Viking.
• Gordon, Michael (1993), A Question of Leadership. Paul Keating. Political Fighter, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland. ISBN 0-7022-2494-4
• Gordon, Michael (1996), A True Believer: Paul Keating, UQP.
• Keating, Paul (1995), Advancing Australia, Big Picture.
• Keating, Paul (2011), "After Words", Allen & Unwin, ISBN 978-1-74237-759-9
• Lowe, David (2008), Unfinished Business: Paul Keating's interrupted revolution, Scribe.
• Watson, Don (2002), Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM, Knopf.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Keating

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Keating

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Paul Keating

• Paul Keating's official website
• "Paul Keating". Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia. http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/keating/. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 
• "Prime Ministers of Australia: Paul Keating". National Museum of Australia. http://www.nma.gov.au/primeministers/paul_keating. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 
• Paul Keating Insults Archive
• Paul Keating at the National Film and Sound Archive
• Video – Paul Keating vs John Hewson
• Video – Re: The Great Motion
• Video – Floating the dollar
• Photo – Delivering the annual John Curtin Prime Ministerial Lecture 2009
• Text – 2009 John Curtin Prime Ministerial Lecture
• Painting – Paul Keating
• Watch a recording of the Redfern Address on australianscreen online
• The Redfern Address was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2010

v t e First Keating Ministry (1991–93) Prime Minister: Paul Keating Cabinet Kim Beazley • Neal Blewett • Nick Bolkus • John Button • Bob Collins • Peter Cook • Simon Crean • John Dawkins • Michael Duffy • Gareth Evans • Alan Griffiths • Gerry Hand • Brian Howe • Ben Humphreys • Ros Kelly • John Kerin • Robert Ray • Graham Richardson • Ralph Willis Outer Ministry Peter Baldwin • Neal Blewett • David Beddall • Gordon Bilney • Bob Brown • Wendy Fatin • Ross Free • Jeannette McHugh • David Simmons • Peter Staples • Michael Tate • Robert Tickner Parliamentary Secretaries Laurie Brereton • Peter Duncan • Gary Johns • Stephen Martin • Bob McMullan • Roger Price • Con Sciacca • Warren Snowdon

The Honourable Kevin Rudd MP
26th Prime Minister of Australia
In office 3 December 2007 – 24 June 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Michael Jeffery Quentin Bryce
Deputy	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	John Howard
Succeeded by	Julia Gillard
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 14 September 2010 – 22 February 2012
Prime Minister	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Stephen Smith
Succeeded by	Bob Carr
Leader of the Australian Labor Party
In office 4 December 2006 – 24 June 2010
Deputy	Julia Gillard
Preceded by	Kim Beazley
Succeeded by	Julia Gillard
Member of the Australian Parliament for Griffith
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 October 1998
Preceded by	Graeme McDougall
Personal details
Born	Kevin Michael Rudd (1957-09-21) 21 September 1957 (age 54) Nambour, Queensland, Australia
Political party	Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Thérèse Rein
Children	3
Alma mater	Australian National University
Religion	Christianity[1][2]
Signature

Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He also served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Australian Labor Party, Rudd has served in the House of Representatives since the 1998 federal election, representing Griffith, Queensland.

Rudd was born in Queensland and grew up on a dairy farm. He joined the Australian Labor Party at the age of 15 and was dux of Nambour State High School in 1974. He studied an arts degree in Asian studies at the Australian National University, majoring in Chinese language and Chinese history. In 1981, he married Thérèse Rein and they have three children. He worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1981 and from 1988 he was Chief of Staff to the Queensland Labor Opposition Leader and later Premier, Wayne Goss. After the Goss government lost office in 1995, Rudd was hired as a Senior China Consultant by the accounting firm KPMG Australia.

Rudd was elected to Parliament in 1998 and was promoted to the Labor frontbench in 2001 as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. In December 2006 he had become the leader of the Labor party and Leader of the Opposition; the party overtook the incumbent Liberal/National coalition government led by John Howard, in both party and leadership polling. Rudd made policy announcements on areas such as industrial relations, climate change, an "education revolution", a National Broadband Network, and health. Labor won the 2007 election, with a 23-seat swing. The Rudd government's first acts included signing the Kyoto Protocol and delivering an apology to Indigenous Australians for the stolen generations. The previous government's industrial relations legislation, WorkChoices, was largely dismantled, Australia's remaining Iraq War combat personnel were withdrawn, and the "Australia 2020 Summit" was held. In response to the Global Financial Crisis, the government provided economic stimulus packages, and Australia was one of the few western countries to avoid the late-2000s recession.

Beginning with Rudd's election to the Labor leadership, the party enjoyed a long period of high popularity in the opinion polls. However, a significant fall in Rudd's personal electoral standing was blamed on a proposed Resource Super Profits Tax and the deferral of the Senate-rejected Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The decline in his government's support in opinion polls and growing dissatisfaction of his leadership within the Labor Party led his deputy, Julia Gillard, to announce on 23 June 2010 that she would contest the leadership in a caucus ballot the following day. Knowing he would be defeated if he contested the leadership, Rudd stepped down as party leader and Prime Minister on the morning of the ballot. He successfully recontested his parliamentary seat at the 2010 election, and was subsequently promoted back to cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs in Gillard's Labor minority government.

On 22 February 2012, Rudd unexpectedly announced his resignation as Foreign Minister, following speculation about a possible leadership spill.^[3] On 23 February, Julia Gillard announced there would be a ballot for the leadership on 27 February, at which she would be standing again. On 24 February, Rudd also announced his candidature.^[4] In the ballot, Gillard beat Rudd by 71 votes to 31.

Early life and family[link]

Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland to Albert and Margaret (née DeVere) Rudd, and grew up on a dairy farm in nearby Eumundi.^[5] At an early age (5–7) he contracted rheumatic fever and spent a considerable time at home convalescing. It damaged his heart, but this was only discovered some 12 years later.^[6] Farm life, which required the use of horses and guns, is where he developed his life-long love of horse riding and shooting clay targets.^[7] When Rudd was 11, his father, a share farmer and Country Party member, died. Rudd states that the family was required to leave the farm amidst financial difficulty between two to three weeks after the death, though the family of the landowner states that the Rudds didn't have to leave for almost six months.^[8] Rudd joined the Australian Labor Party in 1972 at the age of 15.^[9] He boarded at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane^[10] although these years were not happy due to the indignity of poverty and reliance on charity – he was known to be a "charity case" due to his father's sudden death; and, he has since described the school as "... tough, harsh, unforgiving, institutional Catholicism of the old school."^[6] Two years later, after she retrained as a nurse, his mother moved the family to Nambour, and Rudd rebuilt his standing through study and scholastic application^[6] and was dux of Nambour State High School in 1974.^[11] His future Treasurer Wayne Swan attended the same school at the same time, although they did not know each other as Swan was three years ahead.^[11] In that year he was also the Queensland winner of the Rotary 'Youth Speaks for Australia' public speaking contest.

Rudd is of English and Irish descent.^[12] His paternal fourth great-grandparents were English and of convict heritage: Thomas Rudd and Mary Cable (she was from Essex). Thomas arrived from London, England in 1801, Mary in 1804. Thomas Rudd, a convict, arrived in NSW on board the Earl Cornwallis in 1801. He was convicted of stealing a bag of sugar.^[13]

Rudd studied at the Australian National University in Canberra where he resided at Burgmann College and graduated with First Class Honours in Arts (Asian Studies). He majored in Chinese language and Chinese history, became proficient in Mandarin and acquired a Chinese name, Lù Kèwén (Chinese: 陸克文 or in simplified Chinese: 陆克文).^[14]

Rudd's thesis on Chinese democracy activist Wei Jingsheng^[15] was supervised by Pierre Ryckmans, the eminent Belgian-Australian sinologist.^[16] During his studies Rudd did housecleaning for political commentator Laurie Oakes to earn extra money.^[17] In 1980 he continued his Chinese studies at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan. Delivering the 2008 Gough Whitlam Lecture at Sydney University on The Reforming Centre of Australian Politics, Rudd praised the former Labor Prime Minister for implementing educational reforms, saying he was:

... a kid who lived Gough Whitlam's dream that every child should have a desk with a lamp on it where he or she could study. A kid whose mum told him after the 1972 election that it might just now be possible for the likes of him to go to university. A kid from the country of no particular means and of no political pedigree who could therefore dream that one day he could make a contribution to our national political life.^[18]

In 1981, Rudd married Thérèse Rein whom he had met at a gathering of the Australian Student Christian Movement during his university years. They have three children: Jessica (born 1984), Nicholas (born 1986) and Marcus (born 1993).^[19] Rudd's nephew, Van Thanh Rudd is a Melbourne-based artist and activist.

Entry into politics[link]

Rudd joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981, and served there until 1988. He and his wife spent most of the 1980s overseas posted at the Australian embassies in Stockholm, Sweden, and later in Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Returning to Australia in 1988, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Labor Opposition Leader in Queensland, Wayne Goss. He became Chief of Staff to the Premier when the Labor Party won office in 1989, a position he held until 1992, when Goss appointed him Director-General of the Office of Cabinet. In this position Rudd was arguably Queensland's most powerful bureaucrat.^[16] In this role he presided over a number of reforms including development of a national program for teaching foreign languages in schools. Rudd was influential in both promoting a policy of developing an Asian languages and cultures program which was unanimously accepted by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 1992 and later chaired a high level working group which provided the foundation of the strategy in its report, which is frequently cited as "the Rudd Report".^[20]

During this time he underwent a cardiac valve transplant operation (Ross procedure), receiving a cadaveric aortic valve replacement for rheumatic heart disease.^{[21][dead link]}

The Goss government nearly lost its majority in 1995 before losing it altogether in a 1996 by-election. After Goss' resignation, Rudd was hired as a Senior China Consultant by the accounting firm KPMG Australia. While in this position, he won the Labor preselection for the Brisbane-area seat of Griffith at the 1996 federal election. Despite being endorsed by the retiring Labor MP, Ben Humphreys,^[22] Rudd was considerably hampered by Labor's unpopularity in Queensland, as well as a redistribution that almost halved Labor's majority. Rudd was defeated by Liberal Graeme McDougall on the eighth count as Labor was cut down to only two seats in Queensland in a massive swing. Rudd sought a rematch against McDougall in the 1998 election and won on the fifth count.

Member of Parliament[link]

Rudd made his first speech to the Australian House of Representatives on 11 November 1998.^[23]

Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs: 2001–2005[link]

Kevin Rudd in November 2005

Rudd was promoted to the Opposition front bench following the 2001 election and appointed Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 2002 he met with British intelligence and helped define the position Labor would take in regards to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

There is no debate or dispute as to whether Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. He does. There's no dispute as whether he's in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. He is.^[24]

After the fall of Saddam he would criticise the Howard Government over its support for the United States, while maintaining Labor's position of support for the Australian-American alliance.

Well, what Secretary Powell and the US seems to have said is that he now has grave doubts about the accuracy of the case he put to the United Nations about the claim that Iraq possessed biological weapons laboratories – the so-called mobile trailers. And here in Australia, that formed also part of the government's argument on the war. I think what it does is it adds to the fabric of how the Australian people were misled about the reasons for going to war.^[25]

Rudd's policy experience and parliamentary performances during the Iraq war made him one of the better known members of the Labor front bench. When Opposition Leader Simon Crean was challenged by his predecessor Kim Beazley in June, Rudd did not publicly commit himself to either candidate.^[26] When Crean finally resigned in late November, Rudd was considered a possible candidate for the Labor leadership,^[27] however, he announced that he would not run in the leadership ballot, and would instead vote for Kim Beazley.

Rudd was predicted by some commentators to be demoted or moved as a result of his support for Beazley following the election of Mark Latham as Leader, but he retained his portfolio. Relations between Latham and Rudd deteriorated during 2004, especially after Latham made his pledge to withdraw all Australian forces from Iraq by Christmas 2004 without consulting Rudd.^[28] After Latham failed to win the October 2004 federal election, Rudd was again spoken of as a possible alternative leader. He retained his foreign affairs portfolio and disavowed any intention of challenging Latham.

When Latham suddenly resigned in January 2005, Rudd was visiting Indonesia and refused to say whether he would be a candidate for the Labor leadership.^[29] Such a candidacy would have required him to run against Beazley, his factional colleague. "The important thing for me to do is to consult with my colleagues in the party", he said.^[30] After returning from Indonesia, Rudd consulted with Labor MPs in Sydney and Melbourne and announced that he would not contest the leadership. Kim Beazley was subsequently elected leader.

In June 2005 Rudd was given expanded responsibilities as the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Security and, also, the Shadow Minister for Trade.

Leader of the Opposition[link]

Kevin Rudd (right) and Julia Gillard (left) at their first press conference as Leader and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party, 4 December 2006

A November 2006 Newspoll opinion poll indicated voter support for Rudd was double that for Beazley.^[31] In December 2006, Beazley declared open the positions of Leader and Deputy leader of the Labor Party, and Rudd announced his candidacy for the leadership.^[32][33] Fellow Labor MP Julia Gillard ran alongside Rudd for Deputy Leader against Jenny Macklin. The vote took place on 4 December 2006. Rudd was elected Leader with 49 votes to Beazley's 39. Gillard was elected unopposed as Deputy Leader after Macklin withdrew from the ballot.^[34]

Two party preferred polling during the last term of the Howard government; Rudd became Labor leader in December 2006.

At his first press conference as leader, having thanked Beazley and former deputy leader Jenny Macklin, Rudd said he would offer a "new style of leadership" and would be an "alternative, not just an echo" of the Howard government. He outlined the areas of industrial relations, the war in Iraq, climate change, Australian federalism, social justice and the future of Australia's manufacturing industry as major policy concerns. Rudd also stressed his long experience in state government and also as a diplomat and in business before entering federal politics.^[35]

Labour Day 2007. From left to right: Anna Bligh (then Deputy Premier of Queensland), Rudd's son Nicholas, Kevin Rudd and Grace Grace (then General Secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions).

Rudd and the Labor Party soon overtook the government in both party and leadership polling. The new leader maintained a high media profile with major announcements on an "education revolution",^[36] federalism,^[37] climate change,^[38] a National Broadband Network, ^[39] and the domestic car industry.

In March 2007 the government raised questions over a series of meetings Rudd had had with former West Australian Labor Premier Brian Burke during 2005, alleging that Rudd had been attempting to use Burke's influence to become Labor leader (after losing office, Burke had spent time in prison before returning to politics as a lobbyist).^[40] Rudd said that this had not been the purpose of the three meetings and said that they had been arranged by his colleague Graham Edwards, the Member for Cowan.^[41]

From 2002, Rudd appeared regularly in interviews and topical discussions on the popular breakfast television program Sunrise, along with federal Liberal MP Joe Hockey. This was credited with helping raise Rudd's public profile.^[42] Rudd and Hockey ended the appearances in April 2007 citing the increasing political pressures of an election year.^[43]

On 19 August 2007, it was revealed that Rudd, while on a visit to New York as opposition foreign affairs spokesman, had visited a strip club in September 2003, with New York Post editor Col Allan and Labor backbencher Warren Snowdon. By way of explanation, Rudd said: "I had had too much to drink, I have no recollection (nor does Mr Snowdon) of any incident occurring at the nightclub – or of being asked to leave". "It is our recollection that we left within about an hour".^[44] The incident generated a lot of media coverage, but made no impact on Rudd's popularity in the polls.^[45] Some believe the incident may have enabled Rudd to appear "more human" and lifted his popularity.^[46]

2007 election victory[link]

Kevin Rudd campaigning with Kerry Rea in Bonner on 21 September 2007

Electoral writs were issued for an Australian federal election on 17 October 2007.

On 21 October 2007, Rudd presented strongly in a televised debate against incumbent prime minister John Howard.^[47]

On 14 November 2007, Kevin Rudd officially launched the Labor Party's election campaign with a policy of fiscal restraint, usually considered the electoral strength of the opposing Liberal party. Rudd proposed Labor spending measures totalling $2.3 billion, contrasting them to $9.4 billion Rudd claimed the Liberals had promised, declaring: "Today, I am saying loud and clear that this sort of reckless spending must stop."^[48][49]

The election was held on 24 November 2007. Labor's win was coined a 'Ruddslide' by the media and was underpinned by the considerable support from Rudd's home state of Queensland, with the state result recording a two party preferred swing of 7.53 percent.^[50] The nationwide swing was 5.44 percent to Labor, the 3rd largest swing at a federal election since two party estimates began in 1949.

As foreshadowed during the election campaign, on 29 November Rudd directly chose his frontbench, breaking with more than a century of Labor tradition whereby the frontbench was elected by the Labor caucus, with the leader then given the right to allocate portfolios.^[51][52]

Prime Minister[link]

On 3 December 2007, Rudd was sworn in as Prime Minister by the Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery.^[53] Rudd was the first Prime Minister to make no mention of the Monarch in his oath of office.^[54]