Kevin Rudd - Member for Griffith

Prime Minister

Parliament House

Suite MG 8
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Tel:

(02) 6277 7700

Fax:

(02) 6273 4100

Griffith Electorate Office

630 Wynnum Road
Morningside, QLD, 4170

Tel:

(07) 3899 4031

Fax:

(07) 3899 5755

Postal Address:

PO Box 476A
Morningside, QLD, 4170

Web:

http://www.pm.gov.au/

Biography

Kevin Michael Rudd was sworn in as the 26th Prime Minister of Australia on December 3 2007, after he led the Australian Labor Party to an election win on November 24.

Mr Rudd was born in the country town of Nambour in Queensland in 1957, the son of a share farmer and a nurse. Mr Rudd was educated at the Eumundi Primary School, Marist College Ashgrove and Nambour State High School, where he was Dux of the school. He joined the Australian Labor Party at the age of 15 in 1972.

Prior to entering Parliament in 1998, Mr Rudd worked as a diplomat, as a senior official in the Queensland Government, and as a consultant helping Australian firms to establish and build their business links in China.

Mr Rudd gained his Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) degree with First Class Honours in 1981 from the Australian National University in Canberra. After graduation he was appointed to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs as a cadet diplomat. He served in the Australian embassy in Stockholm as Third Secretary and later in the embassy in Beijing as First Secretary. In 1988, Mr Rudd was promoted to the rank of Counsellor and later to the Senior Executive Service.

In 1988 Mr Rudd returned to Queensland to work as Chief of Staff to the Hon Wayne Goss, the Queensland Opposition Leader. Mr Goss made history the following year, leading the Queensland Labor Party back to government in its first election win since 1956. Mr Rudd served in the Goss Government first as Chief of Staff to the Premier and later driving the Government’s reform program as Director General of the Cabinet Office, the central policy agency of the Queensland Government. During this period Mr Rudd, a Mandarin speaker, was also appointed by Prime Minister Keating and the State Premiers to chair an inter-government committee to develop a National Asian Language and Studies Strategy for Australian schools.

Mr Rudd contested the Federal seat of Griffith for the Australian Labor Party in 1996. The Keating Labor Government was defeated at the 1996 election and Mr Rudd’s bid to win a seat in parliament was unsuccessful. Between 1996 and 1998 Mr Rudd then worked in business, primarily as the Senior China Consultant for KPMG Australia. His role focused on opening up trade and business opportunities for Australian corporates in China and Taiwan.

In 1998 Mr Rudd again contested the seat of Griffith and was elected to the Parliament of Australia. He was immediately elected Chair of the Parliamentary Labor Party’s Committee on National Security & Trade and served on a variety of parliamentary committees and taskforces. Following the November 2001 election, Mr Rudd was appointed Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, subsequently adding responsibilities for International Security in 2003 and Trade in 2005.

On 4 December 2006 Mr Rudd was elected as the 19th leader of the Australian Labor Party. Over the following twelve months he traveled extensively throughout Australia, campaigning on a policy platform focused on education reforms, climate change, health care, reforming Australia’s Federal system of government and restoring fairness to Australian industrial relations laws.

On November 24 2007 Mr Rudd led the Australian Labor Party to government, winning 24 seats following the largest electoral swing in an Australian election since 1975. Mr Rudd is only the second Queenslander in Australian history to lead his party to a Federal election victory.

Mr Rudd has written extensively on Chinese politics, Chinese foreign policy, Australia-Asia relations and globalisation.

Mr Rudd and his wife Thérèse were married in 1981. They have three children – Jessica (married to Albert Tse), Nicholas and Marcus.

Electorate Profile

State: Queensland

Name Derivation: Named after Sir Samuel Griffith 1845-1920, Premier of Queensland 1883-88, 1890-93 and Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia 1903-19.

Area and Location Description: Griffith covers an area of approximately 56 sq km of the southern Brisbane suburban area. The main suburbs include Balmoral, Bulimba, Camp Hill, Carina Heights, Coorparoo, Dutton Park, East Brisbane, Greenslopes, Highgate Hill, Hawthorne, Kangaroo Point, Morningside, Norman Park, Seven Hills, South Brisbane, Woolloongabba and parts of Annerley, Cannon Hill, Carina, Holland Park, Holland Park West, Mount Gravatt East, Murarrie, Tarragindi and West End.

Products/Industries of the Area: The area is mostly residential with some food processing and light industry. It is also the location of the world famous Brisbane Cricket Ground known as The Gabba.

First Proclaimed/Election: 1934 (Griffith became a division in 1934 but was previously known as Oxley which became a division in 1900.)

Demographic Rating: Outer Metropolitan

Members:

• RUDD, K (ALP) 1998-
• MCDOUGALL, G (LP) 1996-1998
• HUMPHREYS, B C (ALP) 1977-1996
• CAMERON, D M (LP) 1966-1977
• COUTTS, W C (ALP) 1961-1966
• CHRESBY, A A (LP) 1958-1961
• COUTTS, W C (ALP) 1954-1958
• BERRY, D R (LP) 1949-1954
• CONELAN, W P (ALP) 1939-1949
• BAKER, F M (FLP) 1934-1939