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Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announce Kevin Rudd will be Australia’s next ambassador to Washington.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

It places a deep strategic thinker and China expert -who recently warned we have just five years to prevent war with Beijing - in the capital of our most consequential allies and guarantees Australia has a direct line to the White House.

Rudd was recently awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University on the subject of Chinese President Xi Jinping,and while he will have to step down from his role as head of the Asia Society and cut off his media commentary,his views will be sought in the corridors of power in Washington.

The newly named ambassador is respected in Washington by both Democrats and traditional Republicans. His friendships range from President Joe Biden’s top Asia adviser,Kurt Campbell,through to Paula Dobriansky,a Republican who worked in senior positions for Ronald Reagan,George HW Bush and George W Bush. Sheheaped praise on Rudd when he was mooted as a possible Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Kevin Rudd is widely respected in the US by Democrats and Republicans.Credit:Bloomberg

He could be the most qualified person ever appointed Canberra’s Ambassador to Washington - and he has had some seriously illustrious predecessors:the outgoing ambassador Arthur Sinodinos;former treasurer Joe Hockey;and former opposition leader Kim Beazley,to name only the most recent three.

But the risks of the Rudd appointment are also manifest and surfaced immediately at the press conference Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong held on Tuesday.

Few people have forgotten the rhetorical firebombing of the former prime minister’s character by his own colleagues in the fallout from the Rudd-Gillard leadership wars. The then-treasurer Wayne Swan issued a statement in 2012 saying Rudd had “no Labor values”;Kristina Keneally later called him a “psychopathic narcissist”;and former attorney general Nicola Roxon called him a “bastard... who burnt[good people] like wildfire” during a keynote lecture on her time in office.

With Rudd’s expertise comes his healthy ego and journalists were already asking in the press conference if he might act like a second foreign minister in Washington.

Though a trained diplomat,anecdotes of him using less than diplomatic language abound - such as reportedly accusing the Chinese delegation of trying to ratf--- the 2009 Copenhagen climate deal.

He will need to rein in his tendency to take control of situations,something he never quite managed to do as prime minister. He may have to bite his bottom lip when summoned to meet a junior minister at Dulles International on a cold evening in February,too.

Albanese’s calculation will be that his own close relationship with Rudd will be a check on those impulses.

Further,the prime minister - who has long been a participant in the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue - shares Rudd’s views on the primacy of the Australia-US relationship and on the need for greater strategic engagement with China.

Where things could get more complicated is if Donald Trump or another colourful Republican such as a Ron DeSantis wins the presidency at the end of 2024.

Rudd has in the past described Trump as a traitor to the West and Albanese may need a plan B if number 45 returns to power.

He’s also whacked Rupert Murdoch for being Trump’s biggest supporter and will now have to drop his push for a royal commission into the media mogul.

Albanese waved away these questions on Tuesday and praised Rudd as an “outstanding” appointment who will “conduct himself in a way that brings great credit to Australia”.

Time will tell if the prime minister is right and Rudd’s appointment is a risk worth taking.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletterhere.

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