Rudd, Kevin Michael (1957– )

Australian centre-left politician, prime minister from 2007. A former diplomat, he gained a high national profile as the Australian Labour Party's shadow minister for foreign affairs 2001–06, criticizing John Howard's Liberal–National coalition government's support for the USA in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2006 he replaced Kim Beazley as party leader after national polls had shown him to be the party's most popular figure, and under his leadership Labour swept to power in the 2007 general election. His new government immediately ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and announced plans to withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq and increase funding and support for the homeless.

Born in Nambour, Queensland, he grew up on a dairy farm. He joined the Australian Labour Party at the age of 15 and studied Asian Studies at the Australian National University, in Canberra, and Chinese studies at the National Taiwan Normal University, in Taipei. In the 1980s he worked as a diplomat in Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs, serving in embassies overseas. He was chief of staff from 1989 and director-general of the office of cabinet in Queensland's Labour Party-led government 1992–95. At the 1998 federal election, he was elected to Australia's parliament as a Labour member of Parliament, representing the seat of Griffith, and in 2001 became a member of the opposition front-bench, as shadow minister for foreign affairs.

He is Australia's first prime minister since World War II not to come from either New South Wales or Victoria.