Guest Essay by Eric Worrall
Hard Left über Green Former Aussie PM Kevin Rudd has asked the Australian Government to support his bid for the job of United Nations Secretary General. The bid has strong support from the Australian Left. Prominent Former Politician Bronwyn Bishop explains why Rudd is the right man for the job.
Rudd would destroy the UN from within: Bernardi
Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop told Sky there was only one reason to nominate him.
“If you have got a problem with the United Nations and you really want to see its powers lessened, send Kevin,” Mrs Bishop said.
In February, Liberal Cory Bernardi told Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that the only reason to do it would be to destroy the UN from within.
Mrs Bishop will ask Cabinet today to decide on his nomination — if it agrees there would be no extra resources to campaign for him.
But Mr Baird says it should be all or nothing as with former political rivals in New Zealand.
“If it is good enough for John Key to support strongly Helen Clark for the position — then we should also nominate Kevin and do so enthusiastically. Let’s endorse him and wish him our best from the whole of Australia,” Mr Baird said.
He argued Mr Rudd should get the support of the Australian mission at the UN in New York and some lobbying with the Security Council members.
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/kevin-rudd-cabinet-to-decide-on-un-top-job/7667250
Rudd in my opinion has an unspeakable talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. In the words of former political colleague and Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett;
In an extract from the memoir, read out by interviewer Melissa Doyle, Garrett wrote supporting Kevin Rudd was “certainly the biggest” mistake he made in his political career.
He didn’t back down from that position in the interview.
“I’ve been particularly strong in this book about leadership and Rudd’s leadership and I think it needed to be said,” Garrett said.
“I’m critical of him, that’s true, very critical, but I think for good reason.”
Another of his criticisms is that Mr Rudd jeopardised the safety of Australia.
“It’s a big call, but I stand by it,” Garrett said. He added Mr Rudd treated people with “an enormous amount of contempt” and made “the business of the country almost ungovernable”.
When pushed on what danger he feared Mr Rudd posed, Garrett said the former PM was “unpredictable” and he didn’t know what he “could or would do”.
Other political figures are also scathing – though Rudd draws some surprising support;
Some conservative MPs and ministers are opposed to Mr Rudd being nominated.
“This guy did his best to ruin our country,” South Australian MP Tony Pasin said in April. “That we would think about imposing him on the rest of the world beggars belief.”
But he has received public endorsements from prominent figures including UK economist Lord Nicholas Stern and former East Timor president and Nobel prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta.
My only reservation about advocating Kevin Rudd is the remote possibility he might start World War Three. But the man’s ability to alienate his strongest supporters, to cause disunity where formerly there was harmony, to offend, to divide, to break the unbreakable, is a gift to the world. The damage such a person would do to the UN in my opinion would likely be irreparable.
So for once I’m in total agreement with Australia’s far left – Kevin Rudd for UN Secretary General. Make sure you write your MP or Congressman to express your support.
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“But he has received public endorsements from prominent figures including UK economist Lord Nicholas Stern…”
Well, there you go. That ought to be good enough for anyone.
Yep, backing from an impeccable source.
Kev will be our gift to the world.
yeah..glad i had just put the coffee down before I read that..
I vote for the Labrador!
KRudd and Stern whatta pair of….whatever- unflattering- fits..
that mongrels wasted shitloads of taxdollars promoting his stupid self already
enough!!!
neve trust anybody with slit eyes. First off, if they don’t have fully open eyes, their restricted field of vision prevents them from seeing reality.
If he promises to destroy the UN from within, he has my unqualified support!
Unfortunately that will require more revenue from globalized carbon tax authority to accomplish and a lot of time and lack of audits.
I cannot stand Rudd the Dudd!
I agree wholeheartedly with you Asp, he could certainly destroy the UN from within, and I would love that!
But, he is SO destructive that there would also be a lot of collateral damage to the whole world!!
When he was the Queensland Health Minister, he was known as Doctor Death!
I was devastated when he won the election in 2007, to become Prime Minister.
For readers outside Australia; this man was “stabbed in the back” by his own party whilst he was prime minister!
He would be the next Hitler or Stalin if given the opportunity!
He was a poor PM. I am all in favour of shipping him off to the UN. If he does to them what he did to us during the GFC then the UN will be fatally weakened.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of “Leftards”You thought that the “Nazi’s”died with “Hitler”They just renamed it the”UN”And if the Liberals vote for him,it will be the end of the “Liberal Party”
Spot on Clive!
You do have a limited vocabulary. Fancy describing KRudd as a POOR PM. Disastrous is the first of many adjectives that come to mind. Regrettably,. many of them would not be appropriate in a high class blog as WUWT
It is so reassuring that the US does not have a monopoly on green loons like John Kerry. Kevin Rudd sounds like a good fit for the current UN 🙂
My worry is that Turnbull, the current PM, is just a Rudd clone, narcissistic and wants a carbon tax too! http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2016/07/united-mutual-contempt/
All parties agreed to an ETS that cam in to effect July 1st, one day before the last federal election. There was an article here at WUWT I think, but I can’t find it.
The LNP campaigned against it and removed it once elected.
I think you’re being Young and Naive, Andreas. JoNova reckons there’s a backdoor method in the Hunt legislation that functions much like an ETS. The ability to impose carbon abatement obligations via “Direct action” and a “safety net” allowing them to buy carbon credits to meet them. Sounds ETSlike to me.
Turnbull is the only man in Australia that can make Rudd look humble by comparison.
Brilliant 🙂
” The damage such a person would do to the UN in my opinion would likely be irreparable.”
brilliant. let’s get him in there. damage please.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2794991
Well, Kevin Rudd is perfectly aligned to the world and national standards.
Not even the erotic fiction writer managed to destroy the organisation he managed.
Some ships seem unsinkable.
I bet the Ruddberg against your unsinkable organisation 🙂
Ruddberg would win that contest easily. The UN has never dealt with his levels of Programmatic Specificity.
Helen Clark did a pretty good job of destroying the New Zealand economy and introduced an envy tax on anyone earning more than NZ$60k when she was PM, so she would also be a good candidate.
Yeah, the GDP per capita collapsed from $15,169 USD (1999) when she was elected to $30,560 USD (2008) when she was voted out.
I can’t think of a more complete destruction of any economy in such a short time.
One main driver for that increase in GDP, which is not the only measure of an economy, is migration. Strong migration growth and strong growth in the construction industry are major players in that figure. Many New Zealanders returned to NZ before 2000, with fears of the Y2K bug. Also after 9/11 2001.
It’s GDP per capita.
How did they get such strong growth in the construction industry when the economy was destroyed by Helen Clarke?
Nope, growth before 2000 was about the same as the growth afterwards:
https://www.google.com.au/publicdata/embed?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=sp_pop_totl&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=country:NZL&ifdim=region&hl=en_US&dl=en&ind=false&icfg
The primary industry sectors, dairy forestry farming etc, is in tatters similar to the disaster of Labour years in the 80’s. Btw, Helen Clark was minister for health and she destroyed what was probably the best health care system anywhere in the world.
Again GDP is not the only metric used to measure an economy. Based on your knowledge of the climate system, or lack there of, I would say your knowledge of economies is just as lacking.
Seth
Interestingly, you’ve stated the Australian income figures in USD, not Australian dollars.
1999 conversion rate: 1 USD = $0.75 Aussie dollar
2008 conversion rate: 1 USD = $1 Aussie dollar
I don’k know how accurate your “$15,169 USD (1999) when she was elected to $30,560 USD (2008)” statement is, but 33% of the claimed 100% increase is simply due to the drop in the USD. I suspect lot of the rest has to do with the incredible mining boom caused by Chinese buying during that timeframe. It’s doubtful Ms Clark had much to do with either event.
That was the debt binge era leading up to global financial recession plus the run up in the Chinese economy in all traded commodity markets. Date selection is critical in such comparisons.
@Javert Chip
“I suspect lot of the rest has to do with the incredible mining boom caused by Chinese buying during that timeframe.”
Eh? An incredible mining boom? Where was this? Nowhere near where I live and I’m fairly sure nowhere else in New Zealand.
I think you’ve got us mixed up with someone else.
As for Helen Clark “destroying the economy” . . . bollocks.
A change of track conditions at Ellerslie has more effect on my financial situation than any change of government and I suspect that or something similar holds true for the rest of the population.
Javert Chip wrote
Interestingly, you seem to think that Helen Clarke as the prime minister of Australia.
Do you want to look her up and try again?
All candidates are presented here together with their vision statement:
Procedure of Selecting and Appointing the next UN Secretary-General>
Having looked briefly through all candidates I seems to me that all have bought fully into United Nations dogmatic climate theory. None seems to have concerns for proper conduct of science. Several seem to have totalitarian ideas. Some are even revolutionary like Christina Figueres.
I suggest that readers at WUWT have a look at the candidates and tell us others about the findings. I wonder if there are any acceptable candidates at all.
I saw this elsewhere, if the UN destroys Kevin Rudd or Kevin Rudd destroys the UN, bit of a win-win.
But it may be Pyrrhic victory
A mutual destruction?
Sorry Aussies, Obama is going to take that job. He already thinks he is king of the world. If he does for the UN what he has done to the United States, the place will be smoking ruins within ten years.
Yeah, that monotonic growth since 2009 must be ruining the USA.
Let us not forget the wonderful job he has done for race relations.
Or the great way he has shown the way by his personal cuts to his global carbon footprint.
/sarc off
That’s inflation you are looking at, the story of financial ruin itself.
From the chart:
Please do not say anything like “According to the US Govt., there has been no significant inflation”. We are not that stupid here.
Middle class income in the us down over $2,000 per family over 8 years of Obama. first time in us history. lowest percentage of employable people in the work force in 40 years. Any body that lives in the us knows that the inflation numbers are total joke my food bills are twice what they were 8 years ago, unemployment numbers are a joke vast majority of new employment in part time low pay job create Obama care 30 hr restriction. Almost every new job create goes to low wage imagants. Weakest post ressesion GDP growth in history of country and that’s with cook numbers. The only real growth industry has been in oil and the only reason that happened was despite his best efforts since it was all done on private lands he couldn’t stop it.
Once again Seth proves that he is incapable of understanding even basic facts.
What happened in 2008? Could it have been a massive recession?
So the fact that the economy managed the weakest recovery in 200 years is proof that Obama was good for the economy?
How about the fact that labor force participation rates are continuing to set record lows?
Who wants to bet that Seth doesn’t know what the labor force participation rate is, and still won’t after it is explained to him?
Why yes, we are almost back to the level of household income we reached in 2007
walter
all the growth is in the top 10%
“all the growth is in the top 10%”
That is why my graph is for median not mean. The graph shows that Median in constant dollars is about the same as it was when this century began. If we had experienced the 20th century growth rate, it would be over $70,000
Any growth the U.S. had/has is despite Obama, not because of Obama.’
About the only thing a president can do to properly stimulate the economy is cut taxes, and/or cut regulations. Obama did neither. Instead, most of Obama’s actions have hurt the economy and the creation of jobs. Thousands of new regulations and the implementation of Obamacare which drastically alters job creation, are some of Obama’s contributions to the U.S. economy.
The same with the U.S. booming oil and gas industry: Despite Obama, not because of him. Not that he won’t take credit for the low gasoline prices, because he does, even though he has nothing to do with it. Same for the U.S. economy: he takes credit but has nothing to do with it.
Syria is criss-crossed by his red lines.
Sorry Yank, Obama might think he is king of the world but Rudd knows he is master of the universe..
@Walter
Not unless he decides to ‘fess up that he’s not really a US citizen. Citizens of the permanent members of the Security Council are not eligible to serve as Secretary General of the UN.
He is a citizen of the world. Ask him he will tell you. it is obvious that he is not an American.
The Australian Government should not support his appointment. While the Labor leader Bill Shorten suggests it should, others from Labor namely the former Premier of NSW, Kristina Kenealy & others have been highly critical of him as a candidate for this position. If it were a normal job application his resume’ would not read well.
The Australian Government would do well to listen to the Prime Minister of NZ and his suggestion that they support Helen Clark, a candidate who as PM for New Zealand has a much better track record.
I’ll see your Rudd and raise you a Trump. link
Imagine scene where Nick and Sue come across a robber, who demands Mick’s wallet, while threatening him with a small Rudd. In response, Mick laughs him off, and pulls out a Trump.
link
(I hasten to add that I am in no way a Clinton supporter. In November, the wrong person will be elected president, barring a miracle where all the likely candidates end up in jail. I also hasten to add that I don’t think Bernie and Ted have done anything for which they should be jailed. So … no hope.)
Nothing we have found out about yet, at least.
I can’t reproduce my first reaction here as it won’t pass moderation.
Everyone with a brain cell used to joke how Krudd couldn’t do an even half-arsed job running the country because when he wasn’t wasting time being a twit on Twit-duhh, he was too busy sucking up to the United Numpties, particularly their gullble warming parasites, in the hope of scoring a nice cushy, unaccountable job-for-life there once he got run-off out of Canberra.
…But seriously, he’s gunning to replace Kai Man-in-the Moon?
What an embarrassment to be Australian if that happens.
Hopefully a white guy who isn’t a practicing non-Chrisitan God-botherer and hasn’t come out of any closets, even one who’s clearly suffering mental deficiencies (that’s speculation on my part but might explain why the guy is so utterly useless), won’t be a politically correct enough cadidate to satisfy the ‘equal opportunity’ and diversity quotas at the WOFTAM organsiation that the UN is today.
…One can live in hope anyway
Couple of points:
(1) I would take issue with your characterisation of KRudd as “hard left” and “uber green”; he’s a soft lefty and a faint tinge of green (e.g. compared to The Greens); and
(2) the UN would have no change against the Earwax Eater from Down Under!
I dunno about ‘faint tinge of green’, according to the angry ant himself “…we are fundamentally committed to climate change… I am absolutely passionate about fighting climate change…”. An ETS was core to Krudd’s last election campaign.
Come to think of it, since most of his colleagues agree that he’s volatile and impossible to work with, maybe he would be good for the UN,
just an embarrassment that people around the world might see this womble in the public sphere and think he’s representative of antipodean people in general.
The characterisation of Rudd being hard left or super Green is way off the mark. He was simply a populist leaning towards the young folk issues. By Labor party standards he was probably right-leaning if anything. It doesn’t lend much credibility to the OP to stray off like that… and I am no Rudd fan. Let’s not forget that Howard was so desperate in 2007 that he was promising everything and the kitchen sink during the election, including an ETS.
Rudd’s main skill was to get people to believe he actually had a plan, when all he had was a scribble on the back of a napkin. Thankfully his main weakness was a complete inability to get those napkin scribblings into reality. Consequently he posed no major threat to the country (though he did magically turn a big surplus into a massive deficit).
He was always angling for a UN post, as I said many years ago when he was getting cozy with Ban-Ki. I have found the Convict Creations web site a good reference for assessments of former PMs:
http://www.convictcreations.com/history/primemine.htm
Seems like a non-event now as the PM Turnbull fails to back Rudd:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-29/kevin-rudd-un-secretary-general-bid-endorsed-by-malcolm-turnbull/7671542
Rudd was hopeless adminstratively. He would summon a head of department urgently, then keep him waiting for hours.
He was hopeless economically in every way possible. He drew up the plans for the National Broadband Network, worth $40 to $80 billion on the back of an envelope. Thought it looked good so he implemented it.
He believed he knew better than markets.
He has a maniacal temper, foul language is part of the package.
There is little doubt that he would use his role as if he were the Emperor of the World, interfering wherever and whenever he could.
He is as likely to ruin the UN as he is to start World War 3.
He should be kept away from all power positions, preferably in a straight jacket in a padded room.
The NBN was not what it claimed to be. It was just another tool for busting the capitalist system.
The NBN was foisted on Australia’s construction industry at a time when the construction industry was fully employed servicing a massive expansion in mining, and unemployment was at record low levels. The NBN by competing for resources in this market, maximised not only its own cost, but the cost of every construction job being undertaken in Australia, to provide a service that was happening anyway at a not very much slower rate.
Jack
Take a deep breath and relax – everything will be ok.
The UN doesn’t really do anything except talk to itself and send 3rd world troops to places where they sexually molest the locals.
Who cares if you send a self important idiot there – we (USA) are thinking of sending Obama there.
Here’s ‘Hell’….here’s ‘A Cat’.
There’s not a cat’s chance in hell that this loser (who once threw stuff at cabin crew on a Prime Ministerial flight) will be appointed head of the UN…on the other hand he does seem to be eminently qualified for the post!!
He would be absolutely shitefully damn awful. But better still than some of the others.
My favorite comment was from Kristina Keneally (former premier of New South Wales). From the Daily Telegraph. ” I can think of 12 Australians more qualified than Kevin Rudd to be Secretary-General of the United Nations and one of them is my labrador”.
All I could see in KK was the ultimate dumb blonde. She was the most recent victim of the ALP’s long standing policy of appointing a woman as driver when the wheels started falling off.
Rudd can’t win the appointment, but it’s a great opportunity for Baird and Turnbull to further humiliate the conservative base they feel has no choice but to vote for them. Lest government of the people by green bankster globalists for green bankster globalists perish from the earth.
Big test for turncoat Turnbull , I agree with most others that he would destroy the UN from within so it’s a difficult one ahhh what the heck why not let him wreck it , it so needs wrecking .
Eric, to describe Rudd as hard left is ridiculous. If he was hard left what were the rest of his colleagues?
Nevertheless, I’d despair if he were made SG of the UN because he did not know how to take advice and had an obvious disability of working WITH people. He thought that as Prime MInister that “geez, I must be smart” and started to believe his own publicity and take his own advice, even on scientific matters, He clearly did not know what questions to ask of experts and I suspect that he did not realize that he needed good advice. The UN does not need him, but he was not hard left.
He gets my vote. Go for it Kev, finish off the UN once and for all.
https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/climate-alarmism-and-the-prat-principle/
Pointman
KRudd was a micro-manager par excellence. He might burn out in his own Aegean Stables.