From the AFR:
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has over ruled Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and overturned decades of precedent by rejecting Kevin Rudd’s request that he be nominated as a candidate for United Nations Secretary-General.
Following a bitter and protracted process that threatened to degenerate into farce, the Prime Minster announced on Friday that the government would not be backing Mr Rudd.
Mr Turnbull said the decision was nothing to do with the Labor Party. It was about his “suitability” for that role.
“The threshold point here is when the Australian government nominates a person for a job, particularly an international job like this, the threshold question is: Do we believe the person, the nominee, the would-be nominee is well suited for that position? My judgment is that Mr Rudd is not, and I’ve explained to him the reasons why. I don’t want to go into them here today.”
“This is no disparagement of Mr Rudd. He is a former prime minister of Australia. But my judgment is that he is not well suited for this particular role.”
The decision represents a significant victory for the party’s right wing aligned to Tony Abbott which had been threatening an uprising if Mr Turnbull backed Mr Rudd’s nomination.
Poppycock. Rudd is virtually a career diplomat who was central to pushing the G20 to the centre of international power-management. I have no idea how he might have advanced the Australian national interest as boss of the UN, but he could certainly have done so.
That he is a dickhead is irrelevant. It is a pre-requisite for the job.
Turnbott and his loons have put partisanship ahead of the national interest again.
