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Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is a former Australian politician who was twice Prime Minister of Australia, from 2007 to 2010, and again in 2013. He was the first former prime minister to return to the office since Robert Menzies in 1949. Having previously served as a diplomat, and then as an official for the Queensland Government, Rudd was initially elected to the House of Representatives for Griffith in 1998. He was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in 2001 as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. In December 2006, he successfully challenged Kim Beazley to become the Leader of the Labor Party, subsequently becoming the Leader of the Opposition. Under Rudd, Labor overtook the incumbent Liberal/National Coalition led by John Howard in the polls, making a number of policy announcements on areas such as industrial relations, health, climate change, education ("Building the Education Revolution", "Digital Education Revolution"), and the National Broadband Network. Labor won the 2007 election by a landslide, with a 23-seat swing in its favour, and Rudd was sworn in as the 26th Prime Minister of Australia on 3 December. The Rudd Government's first acts included signing the Kyoto Protocol and delivering an apology to Indigenous Australians for the Stolen Generations. The previous government's industrial relations legislation, WorkChoices, was largely dismantled, Australia's remaining Iraq War combat personnel were withdrawn, and the "Australia 2020 Summit" was held. In response to the global financial crisis, the government provided economic stimulus packages, and Australia was one of the few developed countries to avoid the late-2000s recession. Despite a long period of popularity in opinion polls, a significant fall in Rudd's personal ratings in the middle of 2010 was blamed on a proposed Resource Super Profits Tax and the deferral of the Senate-rejected Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. With the next election drawing near, there was growing dissatisfaction with Rudd's leadership within the Labor Party. Eventually, Rudd's deputy, Julia Gillard, announced on 23 June 2010 that she would challenge him for the leadership the following day. Knowing he would be defeated if he contested the leadership, on the morning of the ballot Rudd resigned as prime minister. After his resignation, he successfully re-contested his seat at the 2010 election, after which Labor formed a minority government. He was subsequently promoted back to the Cabinet by Prime Minister Julia Gillard as minister for foreign affairs, a post he remained in until he resigned on 22 February 2012 after an unsuccessful attempt to challenge Gillard for the leadership. Following persistent tensions, Gillard announced another caucus ballot on the leadership on 26 June 2013, from which Rudd emerged victorious. He was sworn in as prime minister for a second time the following day, and formed his second Cabinet, which contained a record number of women.〔(Polls show Labor bounce as Rudd eyes more women for cabinet roles )〕 He also became the first serving Australian prime minister to publicly support same-sex marriage.〔(PM flags gay marriage referendum – The West Australian )〕 Despite an initial rise in opinion polls following his return, Labor was defeated in the 2013 election. Rudd resigned as prime minister for a second time on 18 September, and announced on 13 November that he would be stepping down from Parliament within a few days.〔(Kevin Rudd quits as leader as Tony Abbott storms to victory )〕 On 22 November, Rudd formally tendered his resignation to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In February 2014, he was named a Senior Fellow with John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In September 2014, he became a Distinguished Fellow at the Paulson Institute, a think tank at the University of Chicago. In December 2014, he became a Senior Advisor with the political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://eurasiagroup.net/media-center/view-press-release/Former+Prime+Minister+of+Australia+Kevin+Rudd+joins+Eurasia+Group+as+Senior+Advisor )〕 ==Early life and education== Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland, to Albert ("Bert") and Margaret (née DeVere) Rudd, the youngest son of four children, and grew up on a dairy farm in nearby Eumundi.〔Macklin 2007〕 At an early age (5–7), he contracted rheumatic fever and spent a considerable time at home convalescing. It damaged his heart, in particular the valves, for which he has thus far had two aortic valve replacement surgeries, but this was discovered only some 12 years later. Farm life, which required the use of horses and guns, is where he developed his lifelong love of horse riding and shooting clay targets. When Rudd was 11, his father, a share farmer and Country Party member, died. Rudd states that the family was required to leave the farm amidst financial difficulty between two to three weeks after the death, though the family of the landowner states that the Rudds didn't have to leave for almost six months. Following this traumatic childhood and despite familial connections with the Country Party, Rudd joined the Australian Labor Party, "the party of social justice", in 1972 at the age of 15.〔 Rudd boarded at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane, although these years were not happy due to the indignity of poverty and reliance on charity; he was known to be a "charity case" due to his father's sudden death. He has since described the school as "tough, harsh, unforgiving, institutional Catholicism of the old school".〔 Two years later, after she retrained as a nurse, Rudd's mother moved the family to Nambour, and Rudd rebuilt his standing through study and scholastic application〔 and was dux of Nambour State High School in 1974. His future Treasurer Wayne Swan attended the same school at the same time, although they did not know each other as Swan was three years ahead.〔 In that year, he was also the Queensland winner of the Rotary "Youth Speaks for Australia" public speaking contest. Rudd is of English and Irish descent. His paternal fourth great-grandparents were English and of convict heritage: Thomas Rudd and Mary Cable. Thomas arrived from London, England in 1801; Mary arrived from Essex in 1804. Thomas Rudd, who was convicted of stealing a bag of sugar, arrived in NSW on board the ''Earl Cornwallis'' in 1801. Rudd studied at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he resided at Burgmann College and graduated with Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) with First-Class Honours. He majored in Chinese language and Chinese history, became proficient in Mandarin. His Chinese name is Lù Kèwén ().〔; ; ; 〕 Rudd's thesis on Chinese democracy activist Wei Jingsheng was supervised by Pierre Ryckmans, the eminent Belgian-Australian sinologist. During his studies, Rudd did housecleaning for political commentator Laurie Oakes to earn extra money. In 1980 he continued his Chinese studies at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan. Delivering the 2008 Gough Whitlam Lecture at the University of Sydney on ''The Reforming Centre of Australian Politics'', Rudd praised the former Labor Prime Minister for implementing educational reforms, saying he was: … a kid who lived Gough Whitlam's dream that every child should have a desk with a lamp on it where he or she could study. A kid whose mum told him after the 1972 election that it might just now be possible for the likes of him to go to university. A kid from the country of no particular means and of no political pedigree who could therefore dream that one day he could make a contribution to our national political life.〔; 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kevin Rudd」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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