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17 Sep 12:07pm

Filed under: Brendan Nelson, Kevin Rudd, Politics

Yesterday it was all tears for Brendan Nelson. On the ABC’s 7.30 Report the former Liberal leader was showing Chris Uhlmann a portrait of himself which had a bike in the background and a white space in the corner. The white space, Nelson explained in a somewhat melancholy tone, was bit of the story left to be written.

'... And this is the coolest bit': Nelson on the 7.30 Report

Somehow he managed not to blurt out: “And I can tell you now - I’M OFF TO EUROPE, BABY!”, and follow it up with a bump-and-grind celebratory dance. The white space, he knew, could include a European flag or a landscape of the plush Australian embassy in Brussels. With the ink still drying on the Hansard of his final emotional speech to Parliament, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced this morning Nelson would be Australia’s ambassador to the European Union and NATO.

To be spectacularly catapulted into one of the juciest of plum jobs in the Australian diplomatic service, you have to ask whether Nelson now deserves recognition as one of the canniest politicians in the country.

The timing of Nelson’s decision to quit politics, which he announced at the end of last month, hasn’t helped Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership. It sparked a preselection brawl for the safe Liberal seat of Bradfield, in a period when the Liberal leader’s authority is being challenged by the Nationals and some of his own MPs.

Nelson was approached by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week and they discussed the Brussels posting over a cup of tea. As a former defence minister and all-round nice guy Nelson will make an excellent representative to the EU and NATO. But there will naturally be questions over the timing of today’s announcement and what it means in Turnbull’s ongoing struggle to impose himself on the party.

Leo expands on the implications for Turnbull here.

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19 comments

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- Patrick says:
  
  01:31pm | 17/09/09
  
  Have we forgotten about his performance as opposition leader then?
  
  Reply
- barry says:
  
  01:34pm | 17/09/09
  
  Brendan ‘I’m going nowhere’ Nelson - Probably the biggest joke Australian politics has seen since Billy McMahon. and i’ve never voted liberal in my life either!
  
  Reply
- Warren says:
  
  01:36pm | 17/09/09
  
  I wouldn’t be surprised if he was approached by someone from the ALP to suggest that there might be a plum job for him - if only he would be available to take it up before christmas this year.
  
  It forces an election that Turnbull doesn’t want, gives the ALP a chance to sew more chaos in the liberal ranks and gives them a chance to reward one of their own with a top diplomatic job at the same time.
  
  Wins all round, unless you’re Malcolm.
  
  Reply
- regina says:
  
  01:46pm | 17/09/09
  
  ooh a developing post! i hope you won’t mind a pre-emptive one from me then.
  
  i liked the piece on the 7.30 report. mind you it didn’t hurt that he was interviewed by chris uhlmann who is a terrific journo who can do no wrong in my eyes.
  
  i also think brendan nelson seems like a very capable, decent, articulate person. that’s probably why he didn’t last long as the leader of the libs.
  
  in any case i certainly have no issues at all with people like him being catapulted into high-profile jobs. good for him i say.
  
  Reply
- shabangabang says:
  
  02:06pm | 17/09/09
  
  Is there another ambassadors position available we can offer/force Nathan Rees to accept?
  
  Reply
- RT says:
  
  02:19pm | 17/09/09
  
  Warren, I think you may be right. Did Rudd offer Nelson this job as an inducement for him to leave Parliament and cause the Liberals an unwanted, possibly embarrassing by-election? Shades of Vince Gair and the night of the long prawns in the Whitlam era.
  
  Reply
- Newcomer says:
  
  02:49pm | 17/09/09
  
  I think Kwevin Rudd forgot his mate. Mark Latham. How could he? Without whom, He will never be PM.
  
  Reply
- acker says:
  
  02:52pm | 17/09/09
  
  Also gives him a seat on the table at the World Health Organisation.
  
  Reply
- Darren says:
  
  03:15pm | 17/09/09
  
  I wonder if Brendan will explain to the WHO why the liberal Party of which he was national leader still takes donations from the tobacco lobby?
  
  Reply
- Margaret Gray says:
  
  03:52pm | 17/09/09
  
  Forget Brendan.
  
  As far as cunning goes, there’s no stunt more cunning than Rudd getting Quentin Bryce to lobby the Dark Continent’s despotic leaders to endorse his elevation into a plum post-PM job replacing Jeff Tracy as Head of International Rescue at the UN.
  
  Reply
- realto says:
  
  04:08pm | 17/09/09
  
  What on earth are you talking about, Margaret? You think Rudd is looking for a post-PM job two years into his term and riding high? Is that some sort of wacky conspiracy theory? If not, can you provide anything to support it? Maybe you should take it to Piers Akerman, he is the king of get-Rudd conspiracy theories.
  
  Reply
- papachango says:
  
  04:38pm | 17/09/09
  
  @realto - it’s pretty clear Rudd has his sights on the UN rather than running Australia. Why do you think he spends all his time sawnning round getting celebrity photo ops and leaving domestic affairs to Julia Gillard, who rings rings around him anyway.
  
  Maraget is right (though maybe not about the specific UN post) - getting our GG to suck up to African dictators for some cause not in our national interest is not only unconscionable, but possibly unconstitutional.
  
  As for Nelson, nice guy, very capable and a smart bloke. Just didn’t have the leadership popularity. To be fair he stepped in at a terrible time for the Libs, and probably knew what he was getting into. Who knows if he’s done a deal with Rudd - possibly.
  
  Reply
- iansand says:
  
  06:23pm | 17/09/09
  
  Some people here need a rescue from the Thunderbirds.
  
  Reply
- Formersnag says:
  
  06:31pm | 17/09/09
  
  Don’t vote for them. Vote for real, minor parties and independents, then direct your preference against the sitting member.
  
  Reply
- Bruce says:
  
  08:00pm | 17/09/09
  
  This is the way any government gets ridd of its opposition or rewards its more useless performers. Looks like there is a few comments here that represent the “my mum and dad voted Liberal/ Labor and thats the way I will always vote. Sad people. Its good to have balanced and informed comments !!
  
  Reply
- Julie Coker-Godson says:
  
  08:18pm | 17/09/09
  
  @Margaret Gray, Realto and Papachango: Are you suggesting we have another Bert Evatt on our hands! God Forbid.
  
  @Formersnag: I don’t think I like the sound of that idea, it gives me the shivers to think what we could end up with and I’m not all that sure that I would want to risk our country’s political credibility/stability that way. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t they say although you can still get yourself into strife there too. I wish there was an alternative but I just can’t think of one at this time: just not yours, sorry.
  
  Reply
- Shane says:
  
  10:00pm | 17/09/09
  
  Formersnag is right I cannot wait until we have our very own British National Party happening down here. Vote for some progression and real change in this country the greatest of any.
  Labor is some sort of comedy relief or something I cannot tell when the cartoons end and the real people come on anymore.
  
  Reply
- watty says:
  
  10:32am | 18/09/09
  
  Wonder “Darren” if Rudd will admit that Labor has been accepting large donations from the URANIUM industry sine the 1970’s?
  
  Reply
- Chade says:
  
  12:48pm | 18/09/09
  
  1. Jobs for the boys; the major parties love mutual back-rubbing when it comes to diplomatic posts, and
  2. “Nice” doesn’t mean he hasn’t been verging on incompetent on all of his portfolios: education, defence, opposition leader…
  
  Reply