Kevin Rudd has reportedly racked up a travel bill of more than $150,000 since the beginning of his posting as Australian ambassador to the US.
Mr Rudd was slotted into the key diplomatic post by Anthony Albanese in 2022, but since then a senior Labor figure claimed he had become the government’s ‘ambassador to the world,’ the Herald Sun reported.
The former prime minister has travelled to Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Singapore and twice to Australia on the taxpayer’s dollar.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has insisted the travels have been in line with normal procedures and expectations.
His apparent role has been to mix and mingle with world leaders at international conferences and dialogues, with the Albanese government sending him instead of ministers from home soil.
Mr Rudd filled the shoes of absent government ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and Germany’s Munich Security Dialogue earlier this year, at a combined cost of $40,000.
His bill included $30,000 to travel to the Northern Marian Island in the Pacific where he oversaw the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in June.
During a 26-day stint on home soil last year, Mr Rudd ran up a $13,647 tab on chauffeured vehicles while he attended 98 meetings across five cities.
Kevin Rudd has reportedly racked up a travel bill of more than $150,000 since the beginning of his posting as Australian ambassador to the US
Within that time he met with five state premiers, nine federal ministers and Mr Albanese.
Mr Rudd was visiting for general domestic talks and the annual AUSMIN forum between the Australian and American foreign and defence ministers.
In the United Kingdom, the US ambassador reportedly played a role in AUKUS meetings and the London Defence Conference.
A DFAT spokesman said Mr Rudd attended 17 meetings in his trip to Munich alongside US Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s now-running mate Senator JD Vance.
In Switzerland, he held some 25 meetings with reportedly key US governmental and congressional contacts on a range of global security and economic issues.
Opposition MP James Stevens criticised Mr Rudd’s travel expenses.
‘Anthony Albanese’s captain’s call to appoint Kevin Rudd as Australia’s ambassador to the US was a costly one,’ he said.
He claimed Mr Rudd has been ‘living a life of luxury and indulgence at the Australian taxpayer’s expense’ – an accusation DFAT denies.
Mr Rudd was slotted into the key diplomatic post by Anthony Albanese in 2022, but since then a senior Labor figure claimed he had become the government’s ‘ambassador to the world’
They maintained the busy diplomat’s travel has been in line with normal procedures and cost guidelines.
The department is still yet to process Mr Rudd’s costs for his AUKUS trip to the UK in May.
Mr Rudd reportedly footed the bill for his own flights and took leave while promoting his book The Avoidable War at a literary festival in Wales.
His next book on Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to hit shelves in October.
Daily Mail Australia contacted DFAT for comment.
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