Why Rudd should not be the Foreign Minister

Luke says:

01:47pm | 27/06/10

One minute your prime minister…
The next you can’t ever represent the country internationally… how fate changes…

Scot says:

01:49pm | 27/06/10

Are you out of your tiny mind, you are having a silly moment I presume. Rudd as Foreign minister you have to have rock in your head. Rudd and Smith have messed up our Foreign affairs big time. Smith was just a puppet of Rudd and now that Rudd has been stabbed in the bak by the faceless men and Gillard they will be in the wilderness. They where the gang of four and nothing has changed. They will lie and cheat and stab each other in the back as they have done in NSW Labor for the past 13 years. We have had enough of this crap and we the voters run this country not these faceless men.

Pilbara popper says:

02:20pm | 27/06/10

Stephen Smith has endeared himself to at least 27 people in WA, and despite his constipated style looks like picking up at least 5 more before he is terminated,doing a sterling job and Rudd does not have these numbers,popularity counts,I believe Gillards Bosses should reconsider before telling her what to do so she can tell us about the decision she has made

Chris says:

04:36pm | 27/06/10

Yes, come on put Rudd into foreign affairs - apart from the damage it would do us abroad - it would help to bring down the Labor government.  We need to remember that nothing has changed in Canberra. Whatever Ms Gillard might say she was a member of the Gang of Four and she helped to implement the policies. She has not had a sudden conversion on the road to the Lodge.
Anything that helps to get rid of the mess which is Labor is to be welcomed and Rudd has already done so much damage that it is unlikely he could do any more.

Wayne Fehlhaber says:

06:00pm | 27/06/10

Defeated Prime Ministers should retire quietly from politics and i suspect that is what Kevin Rudd will do in the fullness of time.
Lets be sensible on this , the rooster has become a feather duster , and when he wanders around with the rest of the chooks , they are going to remember lots of things they did not like when he was the rooster. This analogy is the best way to say the rest of the animals and thugs surrounding him will tear him to shreds if he stays on.
I was your enemy but i respect the political warrior you were.
Go in peace Kevin Rudd , with your head high , there are better places to be than the lion’s den.

Old Bert says:

06:14pm | 27/06/10

How on earth can Mr Rudd re-occupy the foreign affairs gig. Australia would be the hand-over-mouth laughing stock of the serious minded world leaders, and put our country on the simmer setting on the back burner.For once I agree with Downer. The US of course, will accept Humphrey Bear as an Australian foreign minister, as long as this country renews it marriage vows, and no disrespect to Stephen Smith, nor Barack Obama, and who I believe has done a sterling job, from scratch, well recognised by world leaders as being intelligent and pragmatic. Leave this man in his rightful place, not rip him off into another portfolio, as this will do damage to both, the incumbent who feels his achievements aren’t worth a hill of beans, and the bewildered vanquished, who may feel he has to scoop crumbs of a vital ministry, of which he is not the obvious choice, and who it would seem has a larger opinion of himself, than others do, including Bill Clinton, whose transparent comments are well known. World leaders have no time for family squabbles,  especially the two leading ones, the US and China, but they will make diplomatic nods.

stevie says:

07:27pm | 27/06/10

Are you serious? Would he want to have any position after the hand colleagues like Judas Gillard and Swan have dealt him?

Polywatcher says:

07:28pm | 27/06/10

For God’s sake don’t let him loose on the International Stage he has done enough damage domestically.

Super D says:

07:28pm | 27/06/10

Hang on a sec.  Rudd got dumped because he slipped in the polls and his party couldn’t stand him.  I very much doubt that the ALP is interested in his future, they just don’t want him going postal before the election.  If he does in fact stand at the next election I will be very surprised.  There is no future for him as a significant figure in Australian politics.

Greg says:

08:24pm | 27/06/10

It is a bit of a joke Greg to suggest that Rudd has been anywhere but cursing something under his breath or quite loudly it would seem rather than being a breath from anything.
Like those Chinese Rat F..r f…ng mandarin mates of his are a big component in any future for international trade and the extra tax the government hopes to get from it so I’d be keeping him as far away as possible from an arena like that.

The obvious post for him would be part of Gillards old portfolio for he has been right up education like a rat up a drainpipe.
. It was Rudd as a new PM who was going to have all his MPs visit at least two schools in their electorate and report back to…..him I suppose, and he kind of has that headmaster attitude it is alleged.
. And then when Rupert Murdock did a mini tour because of some funky honorary doctorate award or whatever and proclaimed something remarkable like education needs to focus on the three Rs, Queen Jules being nowhere to be seen and the King was out on the photo shoot trail with Rupert hanging on his every word.
So seeing we have this gigantic BER extravagana and a hack who can apparently find no great fault, why not palm it off to Kev and he could use the burning beds and homes man as sidekick!

The only danger there for Jules though is that Kev the Master may just find so many things wrong that Jules gets consigned to the Tower.
She may be Rat smart to avoid that but proper smarts hasn’t really come to the fore with sending Swanny to Toronto [ unless of course she was hoping he didn’t make it back! ] for Swanny is supposed to be point man on fixing what he and the gang have f…ed with their budgetting and expected RSPT revenue.

Like really, Kev didn’t really have a clue to begin with in having to hold his 20/20 summitt for ideas, might have become a little clued and unglued in losing their way and now Jules wants to get back on track, she’s going to use the guy who supposedly took them off track far enough to lose their way!

I hope they’ve got good maps and compasses down there, but then if they all fall in their own holes they’re digging we’ll be none the worse off.

I suppose when it comes to digging holes, she could always make him trench master minister for NBN cabling!

antiperspirant says:

08:59pm | 27/06/10

What I find funny is he buggered every realtionship he touched. Japanese and whales, Chinese ratf&$ers, Indonesia with the Oceanic viking, America with his lies, embellishments and general loose speaking and don’t forget India.

And he is being considered as a foreign minister?

So funny. This is the biggest failure of a PM ever being kicked out in his first term.

He would make an excellent back bencher on a sub committee for paper ordering. That is all. Couldn’t run a chook raffle and not stuff it up this guy. And Labor agrees.

Cathz0r says:

09:36pm | 27/06/10

Well after watching the 7.30 report interview with Stephen Smith, I’ve come to conclusion that Mr Smith didn’t actually say anything of the sort (that he’d be happy with Rudd taking his job) and it was actually just Kerry O’Brian doing what he does best - putting words in people’s mouths.

So this really is a no article.

DD Ball says:

10:35pm | 27/06/10

While I agree with the theory that Rudd should never be foreign minister, I disagree with some assertions. For example, Rudd was not a diplomat, but an exalted chauffer in the diplomatic service. Rudd’s track record with dealing with foreign nations is abysmal, from the sordid drunken affair at Scores, insulting the Indians, enraging the Chinese, getting Japan off the hook on whaling .. as the Libs warned their policy would do .. Rudd finds negotiations difficult with Jasper and Abby.

Dave says:

10:40pm | 27/06/10

Kevin mentioned he will take responsibility for the Labour failures under his command. Okay Labour, let Rudd complete his promise and commitment to fixing his errors and responsibilities. That will keep him occupied for quite some time!!!! As usual, no one will be ultimately responsible because Labours talk is meaningless and others are given the task to fix their wrong doings.

Carl Palmer says:

12:27pm | 28/06/10

I find it amusing at the thought of replacing Steven Smith who seems like a good bloke and is actually doing a good job with someone who is an a-seh-le and destroyed everything he touched.  Mr sexy fingers. I don’t think he is qualified to walk into the chamber let alone sit on the backbench.

Anjuli says:

01:37pm | 28/06/10

Foreign Minister you have got to be kidding ,in the first place if he was Chinese and this had happened to him he would have lost face . He will be viewed all over the world as a has been got rid of overnight—-Prime Minister.