There is growing pressure for Anthony Albanese to fire Australian ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, but the prime minister’s stubbornness is likely to prevent that from happening.
After naming Rudd, ignoring advice from key colleagues not to do so, Albo doubled down and insisted that Rudd would not go anywhere before the US election.
At the time, the prime minister believed Kamala Harris would win, but Trump’s victory highlights Albo’s stupidity in backing himself into a corner before the result was known.
Now you have key Trump advisers dropping ominous suggestions about Rudd’s future, making an already awkward relationship between Albo and the new US president even more awkward.
Rudd has previously described Trump as a “traitor to the West”, a “village idiot” and a “politically responsible”. It turns out Rudd is now politically responsible: he has been appointed as Australia’s top diplomatic bureaucrat in the United States, charged with maintaining good relations with our key ally.
If you like Albanese, you will be inclined to see his continued support for Rudd as a show of loyalty and congratulate him for it.
If not, the only way to see Albo’s support for the former prime minister’s stay in Washington DC is that he is doubling down on a bad decision in the first place.
Unwilling to admit his mistake, Albo is unlikely to step back despite the pressure to sack Rudd.
The ever-loyal Anthony Albanese is unlikely to step back despite the growing storm over Rudd’s future.
That will only change if the president himself demands that Rudd go.
But Trump is unlikely to do that, even less so publicly. Because it would invite obvious questions about all sorts of Trump appointees who have previously criticized the president-elect.
That includes his vice president and running mate, JD Vance, who previously suggested Trump was a Nazi. A worse insult than anything Rudd has ever said.
Just because Trump won’t call Rudd’s boss personally doesn’t mean it’s best for Australia to leave him there.
Clearly it is not. There is little chance that Rudd will be able to build the kind of relationships with Team Trump that our nation will need in the years to come.
All this at a time when geopolitical tensions are high and Trump has signaled plans to increase tariffs, which would cripple Australian exports.
So in a sense, whether it’s loyalty or stubbornness on the part of the prime minister, or a bit of each, Albo is prioritizing a couple’s rise and pride over the national interest. Simply put, it’s awful.
Albanese has supported Rudd since the days of his premiership (above with his wife Therese Rein at the peak of her powers).
The refusal to admit their mistake in appointing someone like Rudd, then compounding the mistake by saying that he is not going anywhere – before the results of the US election were even known – serves as a reminder of many other similar mistakes. Albo had done.
Examples of poor judgment include accepting two dozen Qantas business class upgrades for personal travel, purchasing a $4.3 million beachfront holiday home during a housing crisis, giving your child membership in the Chairman’s Lounge when the Prime Minister’s public persona attempts to present him as a “man.” of the people’ and, of course, the decision to seek an Indigenous Voice in parliament despite clear evidence that it would fail and set back Indigenous rights for decades.
Each and every one of the above was predictable, but Albo ignored attempts to mitigate his actions out of stubbornness or stupidity or a bit of both.
The Prime Minister believes supporting Rudd is a show of character. Yes it is, but not in the way Albo thinks it is.
Once again he reveals his sense of entitlement. He is prime minister and can choose the US ambassador. So damn anyone who thinks that decision should be motivated by the national interest rather than seeking a political partner.