Kevin Rudd has reportedly racked up a travel bill of more than $150,000 since the start of his role as Australia’s ambassador to the United States.
Anthony Albanese appointed Rudd to the key diplomatic post in 2022, but a senior Labor figure has since claimed he had become the government’s “ambassador to the world”, the Herald of the sun reported.
The former prime minister has traveled to Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia twice on taxpayers’ money.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has insisted that the trips have been carried out in accordance with normal procedures and expectations.
His ostensible role has been to mix and mingle with world leaders at international conferences and dialogues, and the Albanian government sent him instead of ministers from his country.
Rudd filled in for absent government ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the Munich Security Dialogue in Germany earlier this year, at a combined cost of $40,000.
His bill included $30,000 to travel to Northern Mariana Island in the Pacific, where he oversaw the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in June.
During a 26-day period in his country last year, Rudd spent $13,647 on chauffeured vehicles while attending 98 meetings in five cities.
Kevin Rudd has reportedly racked up a travel bill of more than $150,000 since the start of his role as Australia’s ambassador to the US.
In that time he met with five state premiers, nine federal ministers and Albanese.
Rudd was visiting for general internal talks and the annual AUSMIN forum between the foreign and defense ministers of Australia and the United States.
In the United Kingdom, the United States ambassador would have participated in the AUKUS meetings and the London Defense Conference.
A DFAT spokesperson said Rudd attended 17 meetings on his trip to Munich alongside US Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s now running mate, Senator JD Vance.
In Switzerland, he held some 25 meetings with supposedly key contacts in the US government and Congress on a range of global security and economic issues.
Opposition MP James Stevens criticized Rudd’s travel expenses.
“Captain Anthony Albanese’s call to appoint Kevin Rudd as Australia’s ambassador to the United States was costly,” he said.
He claimed Rudd has been “living a life of luxury and indulgence at the expense of Australian taxpayers”, an allegation DFAT denies.
Anthony Albanese appointed Rudd to the key diplomatic post in 2022, but a senior Labor figure has since claimed he had become the government’s “ambassador to the world”.
They maintained that the busy diplomat’s trip has been carried out in accordance with normal procedures and cost guidelines.
The department is yet to process Rudd’s costs for his AUKUS trip to the UK in May.
Rudd reportedly footed the bill for his own flights and said goodbye while promoting his book The Avoidable War at a literary festival in Wales.
His next book about Chinese President Xi Jinping will hit bookstores in October.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted DFAT for comment.
