Australia PM says ambassador Rudd doing ‘great job’ after fresh Trump comments

SYDNEY – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected on Oct 26 questions about whether Australia’s ambassador in Washington was becoming a problem, after local media reported fresh remarks made about Dr Kevin Rudd by US President Donald Trump.

Labor leader Albanese is a supporter of Dr Rudd, a former Labor prime minister, who called Mr Trump in 2020 “the most destructive president in history”, later deleting the comment from social media when he was appointed ambassador.

Mr Albanese, who recently signed a critical minerals deal with the US at a summit in Washington, has endorsed Dr Rudd as

doing a “fantastic job” as envoy

, describing comments by Mr Trump at the summit that he does not like the ambassador as “light-hearted”.

On Oct 26, local media reported that Mr Trump, on the night of Oct 24 Washington time, said of Dr Rudd: “I think he said a long time ago something bad. You know, when they say bad about me, I don’t forget.”

Asked on Australia’s Seven Network television if Dr Rudd’s role was becoming a problem, Mr Albanese said: “No, it’s not.”

According to a transcript, he added: “Kevin Rudd’s doing a great job as ambassador.”

Mr Albanese has praised the ambassador’s work to build support for the Aukus nuclear submarine deal in Congress and prepare for his first summit with Mr Trump, which Australia has declared a success.

The Aukus security pact is a trilateral agreement between Australia, the US and Britain.

Australia’s main conservative opposition party called for Dr Rudd to be sacked after

Mr Trump made the initial comments

about the ambassador at a media conference in Washington on Oct 20.

Dr Rudd swept to power as prime minister in 2007 as a Mandarin-speaking progressive, returning centre-left Labor to office after a decade of opposition rule.

He was dumped by his party in 2010 but returned as prime minister briefly in 2013. REUTERS