Kevin Rudd is one of several guest hosts for the CNN current affairs program Amanpour while Christiane Amanpour is on leave.
With a global reach of 200 million households, CNN International put Kevin Rudd in the unusual position of asking questions instead of answering them.
China's economy, climate change and even sport came under the microscope.
Injecting his own analysis into his questions, Mr Rudd asked pointed questions of Chinese Vice-Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao, including on China's ambition to make its currency a global currency.
“Volatility has rocked global equities markets this week,” Mr Rudd said before introducing Mr Zhu.
“Many reasons have been given, including the snail’s pace of the economic recovery we’ve seen in Europe, now seven years after the Global Financial Crisis began.
“Also uncertainty over a future rate rise in the United States, but now too uncertainties concerning the future of the Chinese economy.
“Remember it’s been China since the beginning of the crisis that has been the engine for global economic growth.”
Sporting predictions for this year's Rugby World Cup also got the Rudd treatment.
"England will be annihilated, France, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand into the semi finals. Australia into the grand final," Mr Rudd predicted.
Climate change also got top billing, with guests including Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Professor Lord Nicholas Stern from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change.
Social media users praised Kevin Rudd's performance in the job and his professional presentation.
Although some social media users acknowledged the difficulty in asking the questions, instead of answering them.
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