Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has opened up to The Australian Women’s Weekly about his desire to shape the nation’s future.
In an interview with the Rudd family in the August issue of The Weekly, he said that keeping a level of public service and being involved directly in shaping Australia’s future is “just who I am”.
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Mr Rudd, who unsuccessfully challenged Julia Gillard for the Labor leadership earlier this year, now finds himself again at the centre of leadership speculation.
Since the February ballot which saw the then foreign minister moved to the backbench, Mr Rudd has welcomed his first grandchild, Josephine Tse, the first child of Kevin’s daughter Jessica and her husband Albert Tse.
In an interview with Australian Women’s Weekly Editor-in-Chief Helen McCabe in the family’s Brisbane home, Mr Rudd said becoming a grandfather had prompted him to think about the kind of country and world he wants baby Josephine to grow up in.
“There’s a feeling about what sort of community and country you want this new generation to be brought up in,” the former Prime Minister said.
“Without wanting to sound too pious about it all, you just have a keen eye to where will the country be in half a century’s time when this little one’s contemplating grandchildren,” he said.
Although polls indicate Labor will be in opposition by the next election, Mr Rudd, who has held the Brisbane seat of Griffith since 1998 told The Weekly he was happy to renominate, saying an ongoing role in public service is part of who he is.
“You gotta be who you are, so whatever position you occupy in life is less important,” he said.
“What’s more important is being involved directly in shaping the nation’s future, to the extent that you can.”
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And now, he says, there’s a real personal dimension.
“So I suppose what I’m saying through all that is: when you see this little possum … you think of where she’ll be beyond that and what sort of Australia and what sort of world she lives in.
“So many things that we take as certainties now will not necessarily be certain (when she grows up) so, you know, having always been a bit of a nerd about these questions, unapologetically so, and that is trying to think through the future and how we secure a good and fair and prosperous future for the country.”
Video: Kevin Rudd becomes a grandfather
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