Australia will not be nominating former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd or anyone else for the top job at the United Nations.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he has decided Mr Rudd is not suitable for the role.
Malcolm Turnbull says, ultimately, it came down to answering this question: "Does the Government believe, do we believe -- do I as prime minister believe -- that Mr Rudd is well-suited for that role? My considered judgment is that he is not. Now he is ... not everyone is well-suited for every role."
Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek says the decision shows Malcolm Turnbull lacks authority. "The Prime Minister is not able to assert his authority in the Cabinet to bring the nasties into line. Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, the right-wing extremists in the Liberal Party have got the Prime Minister on a short leash.”
But former Labor leader and ambassador Kim Beazley has backed Mr Turnbull's decision.
Mr Beazley has told the ABC it is time a woman, such as former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, got the top job."There are several well-qualified women in the race. I know one of them personally -- I don't know the others -- and that's Helen Clark. And we should be putting our shoulder to the wheel* behind one of them as the next secretary general."
Malcolm Turnbull has refused to disclose the reasons why he did not think Mr Rudd was suitable. While some commentators have stressed Mr Rudd is well-credentialed, he is also a candidate with a history of unpredictable behaviour.
One former Labor MP, Steve Gibbons, once posted on Twitter that Mr Rudd was "a psychopath with a giant ego."
Others, such as Labor MP Tony Burke and former foreign minister Stephen Smith, also had problems working with him.
(Burke:) "Kevin, as leader, became someone who, for his colleagues, just became increasingly impossible to work with."
(Smith:) "People came to the conclusion they could not work difficult issues through with the former prime minister."
Kevin Rudd was accused of being a micro-manager with a sometimes explosive temper.
The leaking of this footage in 2012, where Mr Rudd swears repeatedly, was used by some of his Labor enemies as an example of what they said was the real Kevin Rudd.
