Labor insiders jostle for plum US posting after Rudd resignation

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is weighing up his choice for the nation’s most prestigious diplomatic posting after Kevin Rudd’s surprise decision step down as Australia’s ambassador to the United States a year ahead of schedule.

The names being considered to succeed Rudd’s are being tightly held, with a decision expected to be made by Albanese in consultation with Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

The news that Rudd was stepping down caught even some cabinet ministers by surprise, Labor sources said.

Former Labor ministers Stephen Conroy and Joel Fitzgibbon have been mentioned within Labor as potential frontrunners to replace Rudd, who will step down in March.

Choosing Conroy would be complicated by the fact he previously labelled Trump “moronically stupid” and, like Fitzgibbon, currently serves as a lobbyist with clients including major defence firms with ties to the US military.

Some Labor insiders raised the possibility of Albanese appointing a current senior member of the government such as Trade Minister Don Farrell to the post, but Farrell ruled himself out of contention.

Farrell said he was happy in his current role and not looking to move to the US.

“I have things I want to achieve here,” Farrell said, referring to free trade pacts under negotiation with the European Union and India.

Several members of the foreign policy establishment noted there was no standout, obvious choice for the role.

Justin Hayhurst, the recently departed Australian ambassador in Tokyo, has been mentioned as a well-credentialed non-political appointment, as has long-serving Defence Department secretary Greg Moriaty, a former ambassador to Indonesia and Iran.

Addressing an early morning press conference at Parliament House on Tuesday, Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong lauded Rudd’s performance in the role, saying a replacement for the surprise resignation would be announced in the coming weeks.

Albanese has told confidantes he is willing to consider an appointee from the Coalition side of politics, but former prime ministers Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott are not in the running.

Former NSW Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet, who is based in the US in a senior role with BHP, has been mentioned but is understood to have not sought the role.

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop, now chancellor of the Australian National University, was widely discussed as a potential ambassador to Paris before the United Nations appointed her special envoy on Myanmar.

In recent years, the plum positions of US ambassador and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom have usually been handed to former politicians from the party in power as opposed to career diplomats or former bureaucrats.

“During both the Democrat and Republican administrations, Kevin has worked in collaboration with our closest security ally and principal strategic partner to achieve concrete outcomes,” Albanese told journalists in Canberra.

“As prime minister, I have visited the United States on no less than seven occasions. That is because of the productive work that Kevin Rudd has done across the board, including particularly advancing the economic relationship between our two nations, but also, of course, ensuring that AUKUS is able to proceed in a way that benefits Australia, the United States, as well as the United Kingdom.”

Rudd began his four-year term as ambassador in March 2023 during the Biden administration, but the job became more challenging following Trump’s election win in November 2024.

The government singled out his work to secure the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, locking in support for AUKUS and negotiating a pact on critical minerals.

He will return to the Asia Society think tank as global president, where he will head the group’s Center for China Analysis.

Rudd said it had been an honour to serve as ambassador for three years, and thanked Albanese and Wong for their comments.

He will be based in New York – where the Asia Society is headquartered – and Washington in his new roles.

Asia Society co-chairs John Thornton and Chan Heng Chee said they were thrilled Rudd had accepted their invitation to return to the organisation at a critical moment for the world.

“He is a true statesman and a visionary leader with peerless experience,” they said.

Rudd scrubbed critical comments about Trump from his online record when he was appointed, including posts in which he said Trump was “the most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West”. Video subsequently emerged of Rudd describing Trump as a “village idiot” in 2021.

During a White House meeting with Albanese in October, Trump told Rudd: “I don’t like you either [laughter], and I probably never will.”

Charles Edel, the Australia chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, praised Rudd for his work as ambassador, adding of the October encounter: “No matter what anyone says, it was clearly an awkward moment despite the spin that came after that. It was an awkward moment at an extraordinarily successful meeting which he was a key contributor to.”

The Albanese government at the time shrugged off Trump’s negative comments and opposition calls for him to be sacked. Rudd and Trump were heard making amends following the meeting.

Asked for comment on Rudd’s departure, a White House official said: “Ambassador Rudd worked well with President Trump and the administration. We wish him well.”

Albanese insisted that the decision was entirely Rudd’s, and that he was not pushed to move on early.

“Kevin Rudd has a work ethic unlike anyone I’ve ever met, he has worked tirelessly,” he said. “He’s moving on to a role that he believes is pivotal.”

Former US ambassador Joe Hockey congratulated Rudd on social media, saying: “Kevin Rudd has put in a huge effort as Australia’s Ambassador in Washington. It is not an easy job and he has worked really hard for Australia over the past three years.”

Rudd’s immediate predecessor Arthur Sinodinos said he was surprised that Rudd was ending his tenure a year early, but added that the workload under the Trump administration was intense.

“It’s pretty exhausting here, it’s like dog years,” Sinodinos told 3AW.

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