Kevin07 - Foreign Minister

Foreign Minister

Following her re-election, Prime Minister Julia Gillard appointed Rudd as Minister for Foreign Affairs in her Cabinet; he was sworn into this office on 14 September 2010. He represented Gillard at a UN General Assembly meeting in September 2010.

Material relating to Kevin Rudd's term as Prime Minister was included in the United States diplomatic cables leaks released en masse by Wikileaks in 2010. As Foreign Minister, Rudd denounced the publication of classified documents by Wikileaks. The Australian media extensively reported purported references to Rudd in the cables — including frank discussions between Rudd and US officials regarding China and Afghanistan; and negative assessments of some of Rudd's foreign policy initiatives and leadership style, written in confidence for the US Government by the US Ambassador to Australia.

Prior to his first visit to Israel as Foreign Minister, Rudd informed The Australian newspaper of a new policy position on Israeli nuclear facilities, saying that they 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 that a no-fly zone should be enforced by the international community as a "lesser of two evils" to prevent dictator Muammar Gaddafi from using the Libyan airforce to attack protesters and rebels. The Age and other media outlets reported this as representing a rift between Rudd and Prime Minister Gillard, and said that US officials in Canberra had sought official clarification on what the Australian Government was proposing. Speaking from Washington, Ms Gillard said in response that the United Nations Security Council should consider a "full range" of options to deal with the situation, 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 that in his conversation with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto, he had offered Australian field hospitals and disaster victim identification teams to assist with recovery. He also said he had offered Australian atomic expertise and requested urgent briefings following an explosion at a nuclear plant, telling ABC TV: "We and the rest of the international community need urgent briefings on the precise status of these reactors".

Rudd suddenly announced his resignation as Foreign Minister on 22 February 2012, citing a lack of support from Julia Gillard and character attacks launched by Simon Crean and "a number of other faceless men" as his reasons. Speaking to the press in an early morning news conference in Washington D.C., Rudd explained his decision to resign, saying, "I can only serve as Foreign Minister if I have the confidence of Prime Minister Gillard and her senior ministers." Rudd's resignation following heated speculation about a possible leadership spill. The following day, Rudd was replaced as Minister for Foreign Affairs initially by Craig Emerson on a temporary basis, and then by former NSW Premier and Senator Bob Carr on 13 March.