LATIKA M BOURKE: Kevin Rudd takes leave from Washington posting days out from US election to spruik book

The Opposition is demanding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explain why Kevin Rudd has taken time out from his job as Australia’s top diplomat in Washington to promote his book in the days leading up to next week’s Presidential election.

The former Prime Minister and foreign minister — a famed workaholic — has taken a rare break to hit the US publicity circuit in recent weeks to spruik his updated analysis of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Although he has said he is appearing as a “China scholar”, many of his speaking events have billed him as Australia’s US Ambassador and audience questions have been directed to him in his official, rather than private, capacity.

His most recent tome is the result of his PhD on the Chinese leader which he completed before his move to Washington but he has said he refreshed and updated this year, while ambassador.

While the book has been well received by China-watchers and Mr Rudd is respected worldwide for his views on China, his decision to take leave from his day job to boost sales has prompted questions at home given the critical timing. The US remains on a knife’s edge ahead of Tuesday’s Presidential election, which polls show could return Donald Trump and his chaotic style of leadership to the White House.

Opposition spokesman James Stevens told The Nightly that with the Biden Administration about to end and a new one about to be elected, now was not the time for Mr Rudd to be going on leave to boost his book sales.

“I’m quite surprised that the person in charge of our relationship with the United States, weeks before their Presidential election, has time to travel around spruiking his book,” Mr Stevens said.

“Kevin Rudd is paid very well to be Australia’s full-time ambassador and should be focused on the job, not distracted trying to maximise his book sales.

“Anthony Albanese chose to make Kevin Rudd the ambassador.

“He needs to explain why, a week out from the US election, his man is travelling across the country on a sales tour.

“Australia’s relationship with the United States is vitally important to our national interests.

“We need an ambassador that is committed to strengthening this relationship, not his public profile.”

Mr Rudd, who has conducted numerous interviews and headlined events for various think tanks in recent weeks, referred The Nightly to the Department when asked for comment.

A DFAT spokesman said: “Dr Kevin Rudd agreed (to) a contract with Oxford University Press to publish a book based on his doctoral dissertation prior to his appointment as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States.”

Neither Mr Rudd nor DFAT responded to specific questions about the timing of Mr Rudd’s publicity round so close to the US election.

Mr Rudd launched his book at his old think tank, the Asia Society in New York on October 18.

He then headed back to Washington to appear at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies where organisers promised that: “Ambassador Rudd will deliver insights from his book and then join CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette for an armchair discussion about domestic Chinese politics and broader global implications.” “Ambassador Rudd will stay to sign books, which will be available for sale,” organisers said.

It was unclear when a footnote on the CSIS’s website was updated to assert that Mr Rudd would be speaking in a private capacity but it does not appear in any of the online imprints that the internet archivist website Wayback Machine captured in late September.

Last week Mr Rudd was in Massachusetts at Harvard Kennedy School, where he was introduced as Australia’s Ambassador to the US to speak about his book in an hour-long discussion.

The Harvard Crimson reported: “Kevin Rudd, Australian ambassador to the United States, said China should become self-sufficient to match other global powers at an Institute of Politics forum to promote his new book on Friday.”

He gave an interview to The Diplomat which wrote: “Australia’s top diplomat in Washington is also championing realism towards China’s stabilisation of ties with the US and its allies, arguing this represents merely a “shift in tactical diplomacy” as Beijing continues to press its challenge to the existing international order.

“Ambassador Kevin Rudd” was also slated to appear at the Commonwealth Club World Affairs in San Francisco, California on the West Coast on October 24 but the event was cancelled.