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| Australian PM Turnbull refuses to nominate Kevin Rudd for UN top job | Australian PM Turnbull refuses to nominate Kevin Rudd for UN top job |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| The Australian government has refused to endorse former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's bid to become the next United Nations secretary-general. | |
| Conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he did not feel Mr Rudd was qualified, adding that he would not nominate anyone for the role. | |
| Current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon steps down at the end of the year. | |
| Mr Rudd has responded by releasing letters in which he says Mr Turnbull had originally promised to back him. | |
| The three letters, published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, were written by Mr Rudd to Mr Turnbull between April and July this year. | |
| In one of them, Mr Rudd says that the prime minister had assured him in November and December last year of his backing. | |
| "Based on those assurances, in good faith, I have been informally sounding out governments around the world in terms of their support for my candidature," a letter dated 1 May 2016 says. | |
| "You will appreciate that I would not have been in the business of approaching governments, even informally, had you expressed any doubt about my candidature in any of our previous conversations." | |
| UN secretary-general: The other New York race | |
| Will Eastern Europe lose race to lead UN? | |
| Earlier on Friday, Mr Turnbull told reporters that his government would not support Mr Rudd's candidacy. | |
| "There is a fundamental threshold point and it is this: 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," Mr Turnbull told reporters. | "There is a fundamental threshold point and it is this: 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," Mr Turnbull told reporters. |
| He didn't elaborate on why Mr Rudd was not suitable. | He didn't elaborate on why Mr Rudd was not suitable. |
| A Chinese-speaking former diplomat who also served as Australia's foreign minister, Mr Rudd was a polarising figure within his government, losing the party leadership to Julia Gillard in 2010. | A Chinese-speaking former diplomat who also served as Australia's foreign minister, Mr Rudd was a polarising figure within his government, losing the party leadership to Julia Gillard in 2010. |
| He briefly returned as prime minister in 2013 before Labor lost the general election to the conservative coalition. | He briefly returned as prime minister in 2013 before Labor lost the general election to the conservative coalition. |
| He had been considered a long-shot for the position. | He had been considered a long-shot for the position. |
| Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres recently topped the UN's first informal poll of candidates, followed by Slovenia's former President Danilo Turk. | |
| Other top contenders are Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. |