Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian Labor politician. He was born in Nambour, Queensland, and graduated with an arts degree with the University of Queensland. He then studied Chinese at the Australian National University. In 1981 he joined the Australian Diplomatic Service, where he served until 1988.
In 1988 Rudd was appointed Chief of Staff to the Labor Opposition Leader in Queensland, Wayne Goss, a position he held until 1991, when Goss, by now Premier, appointed him Director-General of the Cabinet Office. These positions gave him experience of a wide range of domestic issues in addition to his foreign affairs experience.
When the Goss government lost office in 1995, Rudd was hired as a Senior China Consultant by the accounting firm KPMG Australia. He held this position while he unsuccessfully contested the federal seat of Griffith at the 1996 federal election. In 1998 he contested the seat again, successfully.
After the 2001 elections Rudd was elected to the Opposition front bench and was appointed shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. In this position he strongly criticised the Liberal government of John Howard over their support for the United States in the 2003 Iraq war, while maintaining Labor's position of support for the Australian-American alliance.
Rudd's policy experience and parliamentary performances during the Iraq war made him one of the best-known members of the Labor front bench. When Opposition Leader Simon Crean was challenged by his predecessor Kim Beazley in June, Rudd did not commit himself to either candidate, though it was believed that he voted for Beazley. When Crean finally resigned in late November, Rudd was considered a possible candidate for the Labor leadership. On 30 November, however, he announced that he would not be a candidate in the leadership ballot on 2 December.