‘He is the problem’: Kevin Rudd urged to resign as US ambassador

‘He is the problem’: Kevin Rudd urged to resign as US ambassador

Sky News Australia

178,083 views  Jul 7, 2025

Sky News contributor Louise Roberts urges Kevin Rudd to resign as Australia's Ambassador to the United States, blaming him for the absence of a meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump. 

“We have the footprint of the comments he made about the US President before he was a diplomat, before he was appointed to this role, which made the appointment even more curious in my book,” Ms Roberts told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“Mr Albanese cannot meet with Mr Trump, there’s no meeting … and what’s happened is Brent Buchanan, who’s a former pollster with Donald Trump, has said that Kevin Rudd is the problem.”

Transcript

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Transcript

Joining me now is Sky News contributor

Louise Roberts. Louise, there's been an

enormous reaction from our readers to a

piece you wrote over the weekend calling

on Kevin Rudd to resign as Australia's

ambassador to the US. 

Tell me why you

argued that he needs to do this for the

good of the country.

Well, we have the footprint of the

comments that he made about the US

president um before he was a diplomat,

before he was appointed to this role,

which made the appointment even more

curious in my book. But it's clear that

Mr. Albani cannot meet with Mr. Trump.

There's no meeting. The G7 meeting was

cancelled and nothing else has been put

in the diary since then. 

And what's

happened is Brent Buchanan, who's a

former pollster with Donald Trump, has

said that Kevin Rudd is the problem. He

was very specific about that. He said

that the US president doesn't like

dealing with him and thinks that

Australia should find an Australian and

replace him uh with someone that he

wants to actually deal with. 

So to me,

it's a bit of a sort of opensh case that

we need to find someone who will

represent our interests in Washington

that the US president wants to deal

with. And if there's no meeting with Mr.

Albanesey and Mr. Rudd is on the outer.

Then who exactly is representing our

interests in Washington at the moment?

Well, let's review uh why Kevin Rudd is

seen as a Trump basher. He's earned that

reputation. He said the president is

nuts. That was uh constructive. He also

said he is the most destructive

president in history. And most

incredibly, he also said he was a

traitor to the West. And that is just an

incredible thing for him to be saying.

And there was also this

United States in the last four years has

been run by a village idiot.

We shouldn't be surprised that the Trump

administration is not happy, Louise.

Well, absolutely. I mean, if you were

the president, would you want to deal

with someone who said you were a traitor

to the West, particularly given the

great work he's doing currently in the

Middle East, and who said you you were

actually the most destructive president

in US history? 

I mean, of course, you

wouldn't want to deal with an ambassador

from Australia given the whole

relationship between us and the US has

been fantastic and strong really up

until this point. 

And a lot of that is due to, of course, since World War II.

So, I really don't blame Mr. Trump at all for wanting him out of the picture

and wanting someone else in the chair

that he can actually deal with. But, you

know, that's why I said I believe that

Mr. Rud should resign, but to that

point, I don't actually think he will.

will have to be replaced.

Well, that puts the prime minister in a

difficult position. How does he make

this call without losing face? How does

he convince the Kevin Rudd to step down

so he doesn't look like he's being

sacked?

Well, that's right. And how does he make

it look like he didn't make the wrong

decision in the first place? And but

what's the message it's sending to

Washington? Is that mateship is more

important than strategic diplomacy? I

mean, I don't think it is, but that's a

very difficult path for Mr. Albanesey to

navigate. And of course, since then, the

conversation has come up. Um, most

notably on Friday at Sky Forum where he

was asked directly whether Mr. Rudd is

the problem, and he said he wasn't. He

he was sort of brushed it off and and

suggested that, you know, there's other

issues to contend with, but certainly

the rumblings from within Trump's camp

would suggest that he in fact is the

problem.

Louise Roberts, thank you so much for

your time