Latest news with #KevinRudd
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Fresh call for new US envoy after latest Trump tariff threat
Barnaby Joyce has renewed his call for a new Australian ambassador in Washington after Donald Trump pledged to hike blanket tariffs on steel and aluminium to 50 per cent. The Coalition attack dog said on Monday that Australia's continued failure to secure a carve out came down to Kevin Rudd, who has been Canberra's envoy to the US since 2023. Mr Rudd, a former Labor prime minister, has been highly critical of the US President over the years, calling Mr Trump a 'village idiot', 'nuts', the 'most destructive president in history' and a 'traitor to the West'. Meanwhile, Mr Trump has called Mr Rudd 'nasty' and 'not the brightest bulb'. Mr Joyce argued that while Mr Rudd was a 'good guy', he was not right for the job. 'Kevin Rudd is a good guy but he's not kicking a goal in the United States,' the Nationals MP told Seven's Sunrise. 'There is a difference in the relationship between him and the Trump administration. 'I believe the first thing you have to do is give Kevin another job somewhere else – get an ambassador who actually can work closer with the United States. 'You can't have the Australian ambassador unable to make the connections at the highest level of the United States.' Asked if Mr Rudd alone was the weak link, Mr Joyce said he thought 'we can do better for the United States'. 'I'm not saying he's a bad ambassador, but he's not suited for the United States,' he said, adding it was 'quite apparent' Mr Rudd was 'just not hitting it off' with Mr Trump. Only the UK has managed to receive an exemption from the Trump administration's tariffs. But analysts have questioned the merits of the deal, as London was forced to give US companies greater access to other parts of the British economy to lock it in. Mr Rudd has the firm backing of Labor, with the Albanese government crediting him with much of the diplomatic legwork around AUKUS. Retired Liberal Party old guard have also continued to stand by the ambassador, including past political rivals. Appearing opposite Mr Joyce, Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek came to Mr Rudd's defence. 'Kevin has had an extraordinarily active time as ambassador,' she said. 'He's got excellent relationships with both Republicans and Democrats.' Ms Plibersek went on to praise Mr Rudd as 'hardworking' and as having 'enormous capacity'. 'He's an excellent ambassador, and at the end of the day, Australia chooses our ambassadors,' she said. 'We don't allow other countries to choose our ambassadors for us.' Mr Trump over the weekend declared on social media that it was his 'great honor to raise the tariffs on steel and aluminium from 25% to 50%, effective Wednesday, June 4th'. 'Our steel and aluminium industries are coming back like never before,' he posted. Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell blasted the tariffs as 'unjustified and not the act of a friend'. 'They are an act of economic self-harm that will only hurt consumers and businesses who rely on free and fair trade,' he said in a statement on Saturday. 'We will continue to engage and advocate strongly for the removal of the tariffs.'
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Nat Barr asks the brutal question on many minds about the future of Kevin Rudd after Trump threatened to increase tariffs on Australia
Sunrise host Nat Barr has questioned whether it's time for Australia's ambassador to US Kevin Rudd to move on following US President Donald Trump 's threat to raise tariffs. After Trump announced he will increase the tariff on steel imported into the United States from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, Ms Barr asked on Monday whether Rudd is effective in his role. 'Should we axe Kevin Rudd from the US and move him on and would we get further with Trump?' Ms Barr asked Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce. The Sunrise guests clashed on the effectiveness of the ambassador and former Prime Minister. Plibersek said Rudd has been 'extraordinarily active' as ambassador and has 'excellent' relationships with both Republicans and Democrats. 'You know that he's hardworking. He's got enormous capacity. He's an excellent ambassador, and at the end of the day, Australia chooses our ambassadors,' Plibersek said. 'We don't allow other countries to choose our ambassadors for us.' 'But they choose whether they want to talk to them or not and that's the problem,' Joyce hit back. 'I'm not saying he's a bad ambassador, but he's not suited for the United States …,' Joyce said. 'The prime minister should be adroit enough to say 'Kevin you're off to London ' and someone else is off to the United States.'
ABC News
4 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Bronze busts of Rudd and Keating reinstated in Ballarat after brazen theft
The bronze bust of former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd sits on a tray in the back of a ute, along with a gas canister, some tools and a hi-vis vest. It is waiting patiently to be returned to its place in the Ballarat Botanic Gardens. Its bronze counterpart, the head of Paul Keating, basks in the sunlight on a stone plinth while a council worker polishes its face. These two statues are in the process of being installed in the regional Victorian public park, four months after the original bronze casts were stolen in a brazen robbery. Both Mr Rudd's and Mr Keating's bronze busts were severed by an angle grinder and stolen from the gardens on January 23 this year. The busts formed part of the Prime Ministers Avenue, where artworks of Australia's leaders are on display. At the time, 18 other statues were damaged in acts of vandalism. Victoria Police said the investigation into the incident remains ongoing. At the time, Ballarat Police told the ABC the two statues were valued at $50,000 each. Total costs are yet to be finalised, but the damage bill is estimated at $140,000. On January 26 this year, a photo of a masked individual dressed in black and holding what looked like one of the busts, along with a sledgehammer, was posted on social media. The photo was circulated with anarchist and anti-colonial ideology. In a statement, the City of Ballarat's director of economy and experience, Martin Darcy, said all repair work on the avenue was expected to be finished by late June. "The City of Ballarat strongly condemns graffiti and vandalism of any kind," Mr Darcy said. "This type of senseless damage is completely unacceptable. "It is not only extremely costly to our ratepayers and will divert money away from critical council services, but it detracts from Ballarat as a city."
Canberra Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Canberra Times
Australia pushes tariffs removal amid US court ruling
As the Trump administration moves to stop Harvard University teaching international students, Australia's ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd has vowed the embassy was working with the US on the impact of the decision on Australians and their families.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Kevin Rudd reveals the four-word mantra governing his approach to Donald Trump
Kevin Rudd has revealed the four-word mantra governing his approach to Donald Trump: 'Keep calm, we're Australian'. The ambassador to the US made the tongue-in-cheek comments at a conference in Detroit where he argued that Australia could help the United States plug the gap it faces in the 50 designated categories of critical minerals. Critical minerals are crucial metal or non-metal elements needed for modern technologies, such as semiconductors and rechargeable batteries. If there supply chains are disrupted, then it could present a national security threat because modern economies are so reliant on these materials. Rudd argued that Trump's treatment of critical minerals as a 'strategic priority' aligned with Australia's - and both countries could work together to ward off China 's dominance in the sector. 'The geology of the United States does not permit you to be self-reliant in all 50 (critical minerals) because they're not all here,' Rudd told the conference, according to The Australian. 'But if you add Canada and Australia, you are. 'So what we need to work out – and we have a draft accord with the administration at present on these questions – is how do we collaborate both on the mining, the extraction, the transportation and the processing and the stockpiling to make our economies resilient, including what you'll need for future battery manufacture for the future.' In what was perhaps an oblique reference to Trump's recent tariff decision, where Australia was slapped with the 10 per cent base rate, Rudd acknowledged there had been 'recent bumps in the road' for the Australia-US relationship. But Rudd insisted the two countries would always see eye-to-eye. 'Sure, President Trump's administration has different priorities. But I printed the embassy mugs,' he said. 'On the outside it says, "Keep calm, we're Australian". And we'll work our way through all of these little challenges.' Rudd's comments come just days after he unleashed about Trump's decision to block foreign students from Harvard. 'We are monitoring closely developments at Harvard University in relation to the administration's statement this afternoon on the future enrolment of international students,' Mr Rudd said on Friday morning in a statement to X. 'I know this will be distressing for Harvard's many Australian students. 'The embassy is working with the United States government to obtain the details of this decision so that Australian students can receive appropriate advice. 'We also intend to engage the administration more broadly on the impact of this decision for Australian students and their families both at Harvard and at other campuses across the United States.' Rudd has been under pressure since Trump was re-elected. The former Prime Minister previously labelled the President a 'village idiot', a 'traitor to the West' and 'the most destructive president in history'. After Mr Trump's election victory in November, Rudd deleted a swathe of negative social media comments. But that same month Daily Mail Australia revealed how Mr Rudd never imagined Trump would return to power, dismissing his first term as a period of 'craziness'. 'Never take a backwards step in saying we're allies with the United States,' Mr Rudd said. 'For all the American pre-disposition to episodic craziness... Look at Trump: how did that happen? That was a walk on the wild side for all of us.' Trump has also previously signalled his disapproval of Mr Rudd, branding him 'nasty'. 'I don't know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty,' Trump told GB News last year. 'I hear he's not the brightest bulb, but I don't know much about him. If he's at all hostile, he will not be there long.'
