Something didn’t sit right with me when Kevin Rudd was ousted from the Labor Party back in June.

Despite copping a bit of flak over the proposed mining resources tax, the hanging over of Australia’s top job to Julia Gillard felt rushed and a little too well staged.

Then there was Rudd’s reaction, well if you could call it a reaction. Apart from trying to appear genuine in his farewell speech there pretty much wasn’t any reaction on his part. Well short of what you’d expect from someone who’s just been voted out of the Prime Minister’s office by his own party.

I’m not suggesting Rudd had to go all Mark Latham on Labor but some sort of reaction would have been well, normal. Meanwhile speculation was rife over what exactly went down after it was confirmed that Rudd and Gillard had a private chat before the reigns of the nation were signed over to Gillard.

Both parties have sworn themselves to total secrecy. Bugger the Australian public who voted them in, you lot aren’t worthy enough to be told how Australia’s first female Prime Minister came to be.

Following his ousting Rudd for the most part disappeared and has only just recently resurfaced with the 2010 federal election only weeks away. Amazingly he’s all smiles and appears to have completely stifled the normal reaction anyone else should have had when put in his position.

Well, anyone else who wasn’t expecting it… or worse still had a hand in it.

Kevin Rudd’s UN ambitions have never been a secret. As Prime Minister Rudd didn’t acquire the nickname Kevin 747 for  nothing. Every other week it felt like Rudd was off on yet another trip to the world stage to further strengthen Australia’s his own political ties with world leaders.

The $11.5 million dollar UN security council bid and general UN friendly policies didn’t hurt either. Despite most of them coming at the expense of Australia.

Policy wise practically everything Rudd will be remembered for appears to have been done to shed himself in a good light with the UN.

One of the first things Rudd did when appointed PM was to apologise to Aboriginals. That alone must have been worth about a gabillion bleeding heart points and was definitely something the UN took notice of. Then came the Kyoto treaty signing, the dismantling of Howard’s Pacific Solution, buttering up Australia with stimulus handouts, financially ignoring anyone who wasn’t a ‘working family’ and trying to appear worldly by publicly weighing in on trivial matters.

Honestly I lost count of the amount of times I read in the news ‘Kevin Rudd weighs in on why Obama’s pet dog is obese’ etc. The line between Prime Minister and social commentator wasn’t just blurred, it simply didn’t exist under Rudd.

Following his ousting from Labor I half expected an announcement that he had been guaranteed a job at the UN or would be managing a less demanding role in the Labor cabinet, so that he could focus on what was important; getting himself into the UN.

Despite being tipped to pickup the Foreign Affairs portfolio this didn’t happen. Perhaps though that was a blessing in disguise.

Today it was announced that Rudd has finally got himself a foothold into the UN after being appointed to a ‘United Nations panel on global sustainability‘. A position much more fitting for future UN ambitions than the lowly job of running Australia.

Despite running in the 2010 federal election what I believe we are seeing here from Rudd  is the start of what is going to be an ongoing campaign to eventually get himself ranked in the UN. I can only imagine the satisfaction someone like Rudd would get in waving his finger at Australia over our supposed rotten treatment of Aboriginals, illegal boat people asylum seekers and working families.

This greater ambition also explains the complete submissiveness Rudd has shown to Labor despite being kicked out of the top job. Some might call it party loyalty, I call it a long term diplomatic strategy.

It’s much easier to get into the UN when you’re not burdened with running a second tier country (our official rank in the G20 summit). Three years of ambition sacrifice was enough, roll out the red carpet folks… it’s Kevin’s time to shine.

Meanwhile as a member of the Australian public, I can’t help but feel slightly used. I’m not exactly sure what qualifies as a political one night stand but Kevin Rudd’s reign as Prime Minister surely comes close.



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