I have to admit (and I know it won’t surprise you to hear this) that I’m really going to miss Kevin Rudd.
Yes, I know he had to go for all kinds of domestic, parochial, poll-driven, factional and political reasons (actually I don’t really understand any of this, but no doubt someone will explain it to me one day!) but, for a brief shining moment, Australia stood tall on the world stage, with our Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister rubbing shoulders with leaders of countries of far greater significance than our own and, for the first time in a long time, Australians (or perhaps it was only me?) had reason to believe that we really were making a difference in defining the new world order of the 21st century.
Who will forget that defining moment at APEC 2007 in Sydney when Kevin Rudd, then leader of the opposition, dared to trump John Howard in his crowning moment, and addressed the Chinese delegation in Mandarin. The delighted look on the face of Hu Jintao and his aides said it all, John Howard squirmed, Alexander Downer gritted his teeth and the Howard Government knew that it was all over for them. You can re-live that moment by clicking here
And later, in his early days as prime minister, at a meeting of the G8 in which the “shadow nations” (now all members of the G20) were invited to participate, Kevin Rudd found himself introducing President Hu Jintao of China to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India and acting as translator. This informal but poignant moment was perfectly captured on camera (see photo above) and reported in the Canberra Times:
"As Prime Minister Kevin Rudd lingered with his Indian counterpart Manhohan Singh in what leaders jokingly referred to as the G8 "holding pen" on Wednesday, another of the eight invited guests wandered up to join the conversation. China's President Hu Jintao normally has an interpreter at his elbow and apparently was unaware that on this occasion, he had momentarily given his linguistic aide the slip. As Hu proceeded with rapid-fire small talk and Singh looked blank, the Mandarin-speaking Australian leader's conduit moment arrived. For the minute or two before the panic-stricken interpreter rushed over, Rudd did the translation. He was doubtless quite chuffed that little old Australia had made such a practical contribution."
I also remember those heady days in early 2008 when I visited China several times and basked in the glory of living in a country whose Prime Minister was recognised and admired by the average man in the street. The only leader of any western nation to ever address the Chinese in their own language. A real game changer if ever there was one.
“Where are you from?” asked the taxi driver in almost perfect English as I jumped into the back seat, “Australia” I said proudly. “Ah…” he said, with a wide toothless smile, “your Prime Minister…Lu Kuwen….he speak very good Mandarin!” That doesn’t happen every day!
Please don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Julia Gillard. In fact, I’m sure she’ll be a very good prime minister, and will take care of all those things that matter the most to average Australians. But I thought she was already doing a great job has his deputy! While Kevin Rudd was strutting the world stage, signing Kyoto, attending the G20, staying up all hours at Copenhagen and re-defining Australia’s role in the Asia Pacific, Julia Gillard was at home doing a fabulous job as acting prime minister. The perfect combination for Australia and now significantly depleted by the rather sudden dumping of Kevin Rudd.
I hope he will return as Foreign Minister, or as Ambassador to the United Nations or in some other significant role, because Kevin Rudd did a great job for Australia, much more than perhaps anyone realises, and placed us firmly on the map alongside important countries around the world. He will be badly missed, not only by me, but I hope that we haven’t seen the last of him. I’m sure we haven’t….
