SYDNEY - ONE YEAR into the job, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's popularity is riding higher than ever as he uses the global financial crisis to redefine his leadership, analysts said on Sunday.

The 51-year-old former diplomat on Monday marks the first anniversary of his centre-left Labour Party's landslide win with a personal approval rating of 70 per cent, according to a Nielsen poll.

This is higher than any level the bespectacled father-of-three who speaks fluent Mandarin reached during his time as opposition leader, when he also developed a keen eye for policy detail.

Mr Rudd has maintained a breathless pace since removing Mr John Howard from office in the November 24 election which ended more than 11 years of conservative rule Down Under.

Mr Rudd's first official act was to ratify the Kyoto protocol on climate change and he swiftly followed this with a historic apology to Aborigines for past injustices - in both cases breaking long-standing positions held by Mr Howard.

The fair-haired Queenslander, who has been likened to cartoon character Tintin, has also taken more overseas trips than any other Australian prime minister in their first 12 months.

He will spend Monday travelling home from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Peru, following the previous week's dash to Washington for G20 talks hosted by US President George W. Bush.

But it is the global financial crisis which has allowed Australia's 26th prime minister to redefine his leadership from the fiscal conservative of the 2007 campaign to the 'big spender of 2008', said political commentator Paul Kelly.

'The crisis was the turning point, it meant that Mr Kevin Rudd had to recast his economic policy and to remake his political strategy,' Mr Kelly, editor-at-large at The Australian newspaper, told ABC television.

'He seized the crisis. He presented himself as the man for the moment. He got his narrative and the narrative is - he will save Australia from the global recession or at least minimise the impact of the global downturn.'

Monash University academic Nick Economou said Mr Rudd had enjoyed a solid, scandal-free first year and that the meltdown on world financial markets had given him an added platform to demonstrate his leadership.

'He's clearly relishing what's going on,' the senior lecturer in politics said. 'There's no doubt that he's appearing to be handling the crisis really well.'

The credit crunch prompted Rudd to guarantee bank deposits and spend almost half the forecast budget surplus of 21.7 billion dollars (S$20.8 billion) on a stimulus package at the height of the panic mid-October.

Dr Michael McKinley, senior lecturer in international relations at the Australian National University in Canberra, said Mr Rudd had used the crisis to demonstrate his leadership credentials at home.

'The problem is that the global financial crisis is way beyond Australia's ability to seriously influence,' he said.

'Who is listening to Kevin Rudd? That is the question that needs to be asked.' Dr McKinley said while some of Mr Rudd's actions - such as signing the Kyoto Protocol so late - had been merely symbolic, the prime minister had made genuine gestures for which he will be remembered.

'I think the apology to the Aboriginal people has to count, I think the decision to sign Kyoto counts,' he said.

But Dr McKinley said Mr Rudd, who withdrew Australia's combat force from Iraq earlier this year, had not fundamentally changed the country's position in the world.

'He is a sensible guy, and he's intelligent. But has it made a difference to Australia's standing in the world? No, it hasn't.' -- AFP