View full image.

Prime Minister 3 December 2007 to 24 June 2010; 27 June 2013 to 18 September 2013
Australian Labor Party

Sinophile, author and diplomat, Kevin Rudd became Australia’s 26th Prime Minister in 2007. He is only the fourth Australian Prime Minister to serve multiple, non-consecutive terms, alongside Deakin, Fisher and Menzies.

Rudd was born and raised in rural Queensland where his interest in politics saw him join the ALP in 1972. Dux of Nambour High School in 1974, Rudd studied Asian Studies at the ANU and graduated with a BA (Hons). He married Thérèse Rein in 1981 and together they had three children.¹

Rudd joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981, serving in Stockholm and Beijing. In 1988 he became Chief of Staff to Queensland Labor Party Opposition Leader, Wayne Goss. After the ALP’s 1989 election victory, Rudd stayed in the Premier’s office, and later became Director-General of the Cabinet Office (1991–95).²  Two years as the Senior China Consultant for KPMG followed.

Rudd entered Federal Parliament in 1998 as Member for Griffith.³ He quickly became chair of the caucus foreign affairs committee and then Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs (2001), later gaining responsibility for international security and trade. In December 2006 Rudd successfully challenged Kim Beazley for the ALP leadership, winning 49 votes to 39.⁴

Rudd led his party to victory in 2007, winning 83 of 150 House of Representatives seats.⁵  Following Paul Keating’s example, in his oath of office he swore allegiance to the nation, not the Crown. Rudd’s first official act as Prime Minister was to sign the Kyoto Protocol.⁶  On 13 February 2008, he delivered the National Apology⁷ to Indigenous Australians for the ‘profound grief, suffering, and loss’ caused by past government policies.⁸  In 2008 his government prevented a Global Financial Crisis-induced recession, and Rudd emphasised the importance of the newly established G20 at a speech to the UN General Assembly.⁹

Dwindling poll numbers and perceived government dysfunction saw Julia Gillard succeed Rudd as Prime Minister in 2010.¹⁰  Following that year’s election, which returned the ALP with a minority government, Rudd was appointed Foreign Minister.¹¹  In his first four months in the role he visited 20 countries, including China and the US.¹²  With a view to returning as prime minister, Rudd instigated a leadership challenge in 2012, but lost and resigned from Cabinet. However, he was successful in a June 2013 attempt, winning 57 votes to 45. In the 2013 election, Rudd was defeated by Tony Abbott and resigned from Parliament in November that year.

In retirement, Rudd moved to the US where he was ‘recognised as a leading analyst of China’.¹³ He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2019.¹⁴ Rudd received a DPhil from Oxford University in 2022 and in the same year was appointed Australia’s Ambassador to the United States.¹⁵

Ralph Heimans AM (b.1970)
Born in Sydney, Ralph Heimans studied fine art and pure mathematics at the University of Sydney. He received his first commission in 1988 and continued producing portraits, still-lifes and figurative works for private collectors. By 1996 he had established himself as a portraitist, painting prominent Australians for various public institutions. He moved to Paris the following year, undertaking commissions in Australia, New York, Boston, Santa Fe and Paris. Renowned for producing large-scale portraits, Heimans’s subjects include distinguished sitters from the fields of arts, academia, law, business, politics and philanthropy. In 2012 he was chosen to paint an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to mark her Diamond Jubilee. His portraits of The Duke of Edinburgh (2017) and the Prince of Wales (2018) are in the Royal Collection. His works are held in major national and international collections and he received an AM for his service to portraiture in 2014.¹⁶

Dr Kevin Rudd AC
by Ralph Heimans
2022
Oil on canvas
118.5 x 150 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection

References
1. M Grattan, ‘Kevin Michael Rudd’ in M Grattan, ed., Australian Prime Ministers, New Holland, Sydney, 2020, p. 471.
2. Ibid., p. 472.
3. NAA, ‘Kevin Rudd: Timeline’, n.d.
4. Grattan, op. cit., p. 474.
5. Ibid., p. 475.
6. NAA, ‘Kevin Rudd: In office’ , n.d.
7. National Museum of Australia, ‘National Apology’, n.d.
8. K Rudd, ‘Apology to the Stolen Generations’, 13 February 2008.
9. K Rudd, ’Rudd speech to the United Nations’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 September 2009.
10. E Rodgers, ‘Gillard ousts Rudd in bloodless coup’, ABC News, 24 June 2010.
11. NAA, ‘Kevin Rudd: elections’, n.d.
12. NAA, ‘Kevin Rudd: after office’, n.d.
13. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ‘Ambassador HE the Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States’.
14. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, ‘The Honourable Kevin Michael Rudd’, It’s an Honour, 10 June 2019.
15. D Hurst, ‘Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd appointed ambassador to the US’, The Guardian, 20 December 2022.
16. ‘Ralph Heimans’, National Portrait Gallery, 2018, accessed 25 May 2021; B Shields, ‘Ralph Heimans: royalty’s go-to painter’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 January 2011, accessed 25 May 2021; ‘Artist: Ralph Heimans’, Philip Bacon Galleries, accessed 25 May 2021; ‘Ralph Heimans: About’, Ralph Heimans, accessed 25 May 2021.