SYDNEY: Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd announced an end to his chequered political career yesterday, quitting politics two months after being ousted from office by Tony Abbott.
The charismatic 55-year-old Labour stalwart, who led Australia twice and was foreign minister in Julia Gillard’s government, said he would leave parliament at the end of the week.
“This has been the product of much soul-searching for us as a family over the last few months,” he told parliament in an emotional evening speech in which he had to pause several times to compose himself.
“The decision that I have made has not been taken lightly.
“But for me, my family is everything, always has been, always will be, which is why I will not be continuing as a member of this parliament beyond this week.”
Since being soundly defeated by Abbott in September 7 elections, senior figures within Labour have urged him to quit, saying he would be a destabilising influence after three years of bitter infighting within the party. The Mandarin-speaking Rudd stood down as Labour leader after his election loss.
He was elected prime minister in the 2007 general election, but within his first term he was dumped by colleagues fed up with his style of management and demoted to foreign minister.
There were claims of egotism — even megalomania — and a series of policy missteps gave party members the pretext to depose him in shock coup that delivered Gillard to office. AFP
