Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 26 October
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Kevin Rudd’s time as Prime Minister was short, tumultuous and, at times, momentous. Rising to power in 2007 on a wave of popular optimism, Rudd defeated a formidable opponent in John Howard and ushered in an era of Labor rule and extensive reform.
Perhaps the most outward-looking and globally ambitious of recent Australian Prime Ministers, Rudd's legacy is linked most strongly with his landmark apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008 and his successful steering of the economy through the Global Financial Crisis. His leadership is also associated with an era of internal party turmoil. Rudd has been vocal in his criticism of factional power dynamics in the ALP and instrumental in changing the Labor leadership election system in recent years.
Since leaving Parliament, Rudd has pursued his passion for international affairs, with roles at the International Peace Institute, the World Economic Forum, Global Leadership Forum and the Asia Society.
Much has been said and written about Australia’s 26th Prime Minister. At the Athenaeum Theatre in October, hear Kevin Rudd speak for himself. In conversation with the peerless Kerry O’Brien, Rudd will talk leadership, legacy and Labor. The pair will also discuss Rudd’s hopes and ideas for the future of this country, its place in the region, and in the world.
This event will be Auslan interpreted.
Featuring
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.
Kerry O’Brien
Kerry O’Brien is one of Australia’s most distinguished and respected journalists with six Walkley Awards for excellence in journalism including the Gold Walkley, and the Walkley for Outstanding Leadership. Other industry awards include a Logie for public affairs coverage.
In a career spanning more than fifty years, Kerry has worked for newspapers, television and a wire service, and as a foreign correspondent. Thirty-three of those years were at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation where he cut his teeth on the trail-blazing current affairs programs This Day Tonight and Four Corners. He was the inaugural presenter of Lateline for six years, the editor and presenter of 7.30 for fifteen years, and the presenter of Four Corners for five.
His acclaimed four-part interview series with Paul Keating was broadcast on the ABC in 2013, followed by his best-selling book, Keating, published in 2015.
O'Brien has specialised in national politics for the ABC as well as the Seven and Ten television networks, and was a press secretary to Labor leader Gough Whitlam. He has honorary doctorates from the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology.
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