PETER VAN ONSELEN: Anthony Albanese's calling it a resignation - but Kevin Rudd's exit tells a different story
Kevin Rudd didn't get sacked, he resigned as Australia's Ambassador to the US.
Technically anyway. He decided to leave the post early to return to a role the former PM held prior to his appointment, running a think tank. It's just a coincidence that this comes a few months after his deeply awkward moment with Donald Trump, when the US President made it clear he doesn't like Rudd very much.
Albo announced Rudd will conclude his posting on March 31, 2026, and slide back into the orbit he came from: the Asia Society. A dignified exit ramp if you believe the media release.
This outcome suits both men. For Albo, it avoids the spectacle of sacking a former PM now in Washington. Exposing that he was a poor choice for the role in the first place.
For Rudd, leaving his post early but not immediately after the awkward Trump exchange avoids the humiliation of being removed, or indeed having to continue to deal with a hostile White House.
Resigning this way at this time allows everyone to pretend it was planned, orderly and purely career-driven. A classic face-saving solution.
But it also underlines a bigger point: Rudd never should have been appointed in the first place.
The problem wasn't that he lacked intelligence or work ethic. It was that the role required the one thing he could never credibly offer a Republican administration led by Trump: clean political baggage.
Kevin Rudd didn't get sacked, he resigned as Australia's Ambassador to the US. Technically anyway
Rudd had a long public record of harsh commentary about Trump - and the returning president took notice. Those remarks were made before Albanese appointed him Australia's top diplomat in Washington, and they now speak for themselves.
In March 2024 Trump publicly described Rudd as 'a little bit nasty' and made the point, bluntly, that if the ambassador was hostile 'he will not be there long'. Effectively warning that Australia's envoy was on borrowed time.
The government tried, of course. It defended Rudd, talked up his utility, pointed to the important work being done. And to be fair there is always work being done.
That's the thing about Washington, most of what actually delivers outcomes is driven by the machine: The embassy professionals, the departmental officials, the defence and intelligence officials. All relationships that pre-date whichever political figure happens to be wearing the title of ambassador.
Which is not to suggest that the ambassadors themselves are unimportant. But it's hard to believe Rudd personally had the Republican access needed in Washington to value-add to what officials are already doing. The risk was that he subtracted.
During the PM's White House meeting in October, Trump told Rudd to his face 'I don't like you, and I probably never will'.
Whatever polite spin followed, the optics were disastrous and embarrassing. Australia's ambassador being dressed down in front of his own Prime Minister by the President? If it was anyone other than Trump in the role Rudd wouldn't have survived this long.
After that it was only a question of timing.
It's just a coincidence that Rudd's resignation comes a few months after his deeply awkward moment with Donald Trump, when the US President made it clear he doesn't like Rudd very much
We'll never know for sure if Rudd was tapped on the shoulder, or whether he read the writing on the wall and made the move himself. But it is difficult to believe both Albo and Rudd didn't understand that the Trump exchange was always going to result in an early exit, however dignified they tried to make it.
The original choice of Rudd heading to Washington was always a little odd. A former PM taking an ambassadorial posting is, by definition, stepping into a subordinate chain of command: to the current PM, the Foreign Minister, and every other visiting minister who expects the embassy to serve their agenda for that matter. I'm surprised Rudd's ego was able to cope with that.
But the former PM does love foreign affairs, and he certainly loves relevance. Most former PMs do. The ambassadorship offered both: the chance to be Australia's big wig in Washington other than when actual big wigs fly into town, which isn't all that often.
Between visits Rudd was back, but now he's gone. Now the experiment is over, early, and everyone gets to call it a success, with a straight face.
