Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd served as Australia's 26th Prime Minister (2007-10, 2013) and as Foreign Minister (2010-12). Since 2014, he has been President of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. 

In office, Mr Rudd led Australia's response to the Global Financial Crisis, reviewed as the most effective policy in the developed world. Australia was the only developed country to avoid recession. His government also ratified the Kyoto Protocol, apologised to Indigenous Australians, implemented a mandatory renewable energy target, delivered the national school curriculum, negotiated major reform of the health system, introduced national paid parental leave, and pursued the world's first plain-packaging regime for tobacco. He is the author of two memoirs, Not for the Faint-Hearted and The PM Years.