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Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd is Australia’s 26th Prime Minister and the 19th Leader of the Australian Labor Party. He came to office on 3 December 2007.

Kevin Rudd departed from firm Labor Party practice when he selected his own ministers – he was the first Labor Prime Minister to break the traditional role of the Caucus. There are 42 members of the Rudd government executive, 20 Cabinet members, 10 other ministers and 12 parliamentary secretaries. Kevin Rudd is also the first Australian Prime Minister to appoint a female deputy, Julia Gillard.

The historic highlight of his first months in office, however, was his apology to Indigenous people in the opening week of Australia’s 42nd parliament.

Kevin Rudd, 2007.

ALP National Secretariat

The Prime Minister followed the lead of all Australian post-war prime ministers and visited countries considered significant in Australia’s international and trade relations. With the issue of climate change at the forefront, Kevin Rudd’s first visit abroad was to Indonesia for a conference on climate change where, on behalf of the Australian Government, he ratified the Kyoto Protocol. In his first months in office Kevin Rudd also visited China, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

At home, the new government gave immediate priority to its key policy areas of education, employment and health, and introduced legislation to reverse some of the major workplace reforms of the Howard government.