Rudd ready for G20 dash
Kevin Rudd is expected to play the statesman’s card in the last days of the election campaign by attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Russia.
Senior public service officials in Canberra have told InDaily the Australian delegation at the summit venue in St Petersburg has been told to prepare for the arrival of the Prime Minister “as soon as the election advertising blackout starts”.
Electronic election advertising ceases at midnight Wednesday.
Rudd has previously left open the possibility of attending the summit on September 5-6.
“I said at the outset that our intention is that Australia would be represented by the Foreign Minister but I will continue to be in consultation with global leaders on this question,” the Prime Minister told media last week.
“We are in uncertain times. That’s just the truth of it. It would be quite wrong of me to pretend to any of you that these are normal times.”
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Yesterday Rudd used the Syrian crisis to launch an attack on the credentials of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
“To have an alternative prime minister of Australia say that Syria is somehow this simplistic rendition of a 1950s western between goodies and baddies, and baddies and baddies, frankly causes people to be concerned about Mr Abbott’s judgment,” Rudd told the Nine Network on Monday.
Tony Abbott said British Prime Minister David Cameron and former US president Bill Clinton had used similar language on Syria.
“I think the odd use of colloquialism is perfectly appropriate if you are trying to explain to the public exactly what the situation is,” Abbott told reporters in Sydney.
The Prime Minister ramped up the Syrian issue as a campaign issue again today on ABC Radio when he accused Tony Abbott of another “appalling error” of foreign policy judgment over his latest comments.
He pointed to Tony Abbot’s description on Monday of the conflict as a civil war between “two pretty much equally unsavoury sides” and that the Syrian opposition included “quite a number of elements that are highly influenced by al-Qaeda”.
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The prime minister described Abbott’s comments as “stunning”.
He reminded the Opposition Leader that 80 countries, including Australia and the United States, recognised the main opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition.
“If Mr Abbott is the prime minister on Sunday … is he going to send a direction to our ambassador in New York to de-recognise the Syrian National Coalition?” Rudd told ABC radio on Tuesday.
“This would set off such a reaction in Australian international relations and our standing across the world.
“People wouldn’t just scratch their head, they’d walk away in horror at this appalling error of foreign policy judgment.”
Although the official G20 agenda has always been based on economic issues, the Leaders’ Summit often becomes a forum for other global issues.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to dominate proceedings with their divergent views on the Assad regime in Syria.
The forum is in its fifth year, starting out as a response to the Global Financial Crisis.
“At the peak of the crisis the G20 members agreed on coordinated measures to support the global economy,” Putin reminded delegates in his welcome note on the summit’s website.
“We made the commitment to curb trade protectionism, developed new principles of financial regulation, and defined the objectives for future economic policy coordination and reform of financial institutions.”
For Australia’s embattled Prime Minister, the G20 presents the ultimate stage and photo opportunity to reinforce his leadership credentials.
– with AAP
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