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'''Kevin Rudd''' is was the 26th and 28th [[Prime Minister]] of [[Australia]], and leader of the federal [[Parliament of Australia|parliamentary]] wing of the [[Australian Labor Party]] (ALP)between December 2007 and June 2010, and June to September 2013, and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 14 September 2010 to 22 February 2012. At the federal level, the ALP won the 24 November 2007 election after 11 years of [[John Howard]]'s [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal]]-[[National Party of Australia|National]] coalition government. Kevin Rudd advocates socialistic policies, giving billions of dollars such as a multibillion-dollar stimulus package that gave cash handouts to Australia's poorest in any citizen earning less than $100,000 a badly thought out series year<ref name="stimulus">[http://www.treasurer.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=factsheets/2009/001.htm&pageID=011&min=wms&Year=... Household Stimulus Package Factsheet], accessed 8 November 2009.</ref> and a carbon emissions trading scheme which the government has so far been unable to pass.<ref name="emissions">[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/kevin-rudd-urges-liberals-to-back-emissions-trading-scheme/story-e6frg6nf-1225793355127 Kevin Rudd urges Liberals to back emissions trading scheme], The Australian, 2 November 2009, accessed 8 November 2009.</ref> Despite this, Australia was one of handoutsfew Western nations to not record two consecutive quarters of negative growth during the [[recession of 2008]].

Among Rudd's first acts as Prime Minister was to ratify the [[Kyoto Protocol]], something Howard had refused to do for economic reasons. Additionally, Rudd made a formal parliamentary apology to the "[[Australian Aborigines#Stolen Generation|Stolen Generation]]", a large group of [[indigenous Australians]] who were forcibly removed from their community in the first half of the 20th century. While there is continued dispute among historians over whether the "Stolen Generation" existed, the Opposition gave its support to the apology. Polls taken since the election show the ALP holding a commanding lead in the polls under Rudd's leadership, with Rudd leading opposition leader Brendan Nelson by 70% to 9% in the "preferred Prime Minister" rating (leading the press to dub Nelson as "Mr. Nine Percent").<ref name="ninepercent">[http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/mr-9-nelsons-parlous-poll-position/2008/02/19/1203190750515.html Mr. 9% - Brendan Nelson's parlous poll position] Fairfax Digital, 19 February 2008, accessed 2 March 2008</ref>Rudd reduced a Royal Australian Air Force air hostess to tears in April 2009 when he verbally abused her after losing his temper over an in-flight meal.<ref name="hostess">[http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/rudd-serves-up-air-rage-apology/story-0-1225698279332 Kevin Rudd loses temper over in-flight meal], Herald Sun, 2 April 2009, accessed 8 November 2009.</ref> ==Foreign Minister of Australia==Rudd was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia on 14 September 2010. He resigned from that position on 22 February 2012 in a speech at about 1.30am local time, 22 February 2012, in [[The Willard Hotel]] in [[Washington DC]], stating that negative statements by colleagues including the [[Prime Minister of Australia]], [[Julia Gillard]], were a deciding factor in his resignation. The timing in Washington corresponded to late afternoon in eastern Australia, just before the evening TV news. ==2013 Leadership Challenge==Rudd re-took the leadership of the [[Australian Labor Party|ALP]], and following that the office of Prime Minister, on Jun 26th 2013 after a leadership spill. The timing coincided with an imminent federal election which the ALP were expected to lose badly, which they did despite the change in leader.

Rudd has attended the Anglican church with given various speeches about his wife faith, and familyquotes the German [[theologian]] and [[martyr]] to the anti-[[Nazi]] cause, without formally taking up membership[[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]], as his hero.<ref name="light">[http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/more-than-just-a-light-on-the-hill/2007/12/21/1198175342004.html More than just a light on the hill], Fairfax Digital, 22 December 2007, accessed 27 December 2007</ref>. He is credited with being an active member of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, attending not only lectures but also Bible studies. He is said to carry a Bible when he travels.

Rudd has given various speeches about attended the Anglican church with his faith, wife and quotes the German family, without formally taking up membership.<ref name="light">[[theologian]] and [[martyr]] to http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/more-than-just-a-light-on-the anti-[[Nazihill/2007/12/21/1198175342004.html More than just a light on the hill]] cause, [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]]Fairfax Digital, as his hero22 December 2007, accessed 27 December 2007</ref> He is credited with being an active member of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, attending not only lectures but also Bible studies. He is said to carry a Bible when he travels and has stated he is a creationist:<ref name="lightcreation" >[http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24260582-911,00.html Why Kevin Rudd believes in God], Adelaide Now, 29 August 2008, accessed 13 December 2009.</ref> <blockquote>“For me, it’s ultimately the order of the cosmos or what I describe as the creation. You can’t simply have, in my own judgment, creation simply being a random event because it is so inherently ordered, and the fact that the natural environment is being ordered where it can properly coexist over time. If you were simply reducing that to mathematically probabilities I’ve got to say it probably wouldn’t have happened. So I think there is an intelligent mind at work."</blockquote>

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