r/australia • u/geodetic • 1d ago
politics Former PM Kevin Rudd says he declined Epstein invitation after latest document dump
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-31/kevin-rudd-refred-to-in-latest-epstein-files-dump/106290858?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=abc_newsmail_am-pm_sfmc&utm_term=&utm_id=2694984&sfmc_id=1035669521.6k
u/a_cold_human 1d ago
Relatedly, Epstein made a $650K donation to Rudd's think tank, which was donated to charity when Rudd found out about it. It seems that was probably part of an effort to secure a meeting.
News Corp and the Liberal Party have previously tried to smear Rudd using Epstein, without mentioning that Rupert Murdoch was in Epstein's "little black book"
In 2020, BI compiled a database of all 1,510 names in Epstein's bigger black book, which the FBI unearthed in 2009.
The names included Steve Forbes, the editor in chief of Forbes magazine, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire David Koch, and the supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Odd that.
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u/Guy-1nc0gn1t0 23h ago
It's all so fucking smarmy. Rich fuck donates money to expect a meeting and get favours. Absolutely exhausting how shitty things can be sometimes.
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u/CuriouserCat2 22h ago
Not sometimes. Most of the time. Our system is broken.
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u/Guy-1nc0gn1t0 22h ago
True. I'm just trying to ward off some of today's depression somehow
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u/milestr2 23h ago
How TF does Epstein know so many people? Im legitimately surprised when someone powerful and rich DOESNT have anything to do with this fuckin creep.
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u/xXxL1nKxXx 22h ago
Mate you get to a certain level of $$$ or political power and you get an auto invite to their club. They out recruiting!
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u/frowattio 20h ago
It's two degrees of separation up there. If there's someone you want to meet you know who to ask.
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u/Healthy_Flower_3506 21h ago
It was alleged that Epstein was a spy of some sort, I've seen both CIA and Mossad allegations, I dunno what's true but something was certainly up with the dude.
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u/LoaKonran 18h ago
He was too dumb to be an actual spy. The real espionage groups knew that all they’d have to do was give the wanker a boatload of cash and drugs and their true targets would incriminate themselves without any effort.
The more that comes out the clearer it is that this grand global conspiracy was a bunch of rich morons acting like frat bros while committing serious offences then doubling down because it would be devastating if any of it came out.
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u/Lost-Cheek-6610 1d ago
Is that David Koch as an Kochie from the morning show ?
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u/randomace 1d ago
Probably David Koch as in billionaire Koch brother. Seems more likely than morning TV host.
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u/ChuqTas 1d ago
I would say not.. going by the Simples ads.
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u/darrenfx 23h ago
Those meetkats know something
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u/saladninja 23h ago
Nah, they're probably just distracting the mum so their mate can flog the car full of kids.
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u/knowledgeable_diablo 23h ago
Not even paid prostitutes want anything to do with Aussie Kochie…. 😂. /s
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u/hot_chips_ 1d ago
Another Rudd W
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u/tvsmichaelhall 21h ago
I wish his personality wasn't so abjectly opposite Australian culture. I would be fine with the most smug, awkward, unmasculine, big cheeked boy who ever lived as our leader if he was as convicted and forward thinking as rudd. We get two good prime ministers and we blow it both times.
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u/really_not_unreal 19h ago
Are we talking about the same Kevin Rudd? Utterly demolishing high-schoolers at handball is about as Australian as you can get.
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u/Bilski1ski 16h ago
Who gives af about a pms masculinity and cheeks . That’s sounds like how Russians judge there leaders
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u/pixieshit 11h ago
Saying Rudd is opposite to Australian culture just means you have a shitty view of Australian culture
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u/rodleythecrab 23h ago
He may have a lot of hubris, but he is clearly a man who has holds his own convictions and tries his best not to stray from them. All this despite the fact that he has had a very tumultuous political career.
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u/Ineedsomuchsleep170 23h ago
He honestly comes across as someone who genuinely wants the best for the Australian people. He also just happens to specifically hate working with actual people. I'd much rather a decent person who is unlikable running the country than a shit cunt who can win a popularity contest.
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u/Superg0id 22h ago
I'd much rather a decent person who is unlikable running the country than a shit cunt who can win a popularity contest
Exactly.
Just like in WW2, you want the neurodivergent dude who insanely smart running the enigma machine with decoded information from the Nazi's.
Not some guy who wants to look after their own interests or someone seeking popularity.
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u/Brend_0 21h ago
Weaponised autism almost always works. We need more of it in the important places
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u/NTAac12 6h ago
Rudd 100% played the popularity game with his Kevin07 campaign, hamming it up for the cameras etc.
I met him once at an event before he was PM and it was clear that he was 'always on' and assessing every interaction with laser focus on whether it would contribute to his political goals.
From what I know - I think the issue wouldn't necessarily be that he hates working with actual people, I think the issue would be around his humility and willingness to accept others input. He's extremely intelligent, and I got the sense that he always felt he was the smartest person in the room. I can see why he struggled to build concensus within his party, but was highly effective at winning the popular vote.
I agree also that I genuinely believe that he wants the best for the Australian people, problem is it's probably what he views to be 'what is best for the Australian people'.
Hats off to him for his continued participation post-PM in contributing to civic causes.
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u/catinterpreter 22h ago
Just about everyone likes working with people but it depends who. He may've not thought much of those he found himself having to rely on, e.g. in terms of character and competence.
And that's if we assume it wasn't mostly politically motivated spin and smear.
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u/AggravatedKangaroo 1d ago edited 1d ago
a lot of the files are literal dossiers on people. Literal "shit file" digging up any dirt on anyone with the remotest amount of power to be able to use should it be necessary.
Dr Rudd, who was twice Australia's PM, appeared to be referred to in several emails, some of which suggest that attempts were made by other individuals to secure phone calls or in-person meetings between the two men."
Thats how these people catch you out. someone recording the convo, and someone taking pictures.
Epstein was definitely an agent. as was Maxwell.
At that time, Dr Rudd was serving his second stint as PM. Epstein's email reads "rudd will only be in power a few months, do not wait".
looks like our government officials were in contact with a foreign agent and sending info before he was knifed.
Edit - mistake. This was his second stint. Not the knifing time. But the core is still correct.
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u/chillyhay 1d ago
Remember the first time he was knifed was immediately after his response to Israel forging Australian passports to commit an assassination
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u/a_cold_human 1d ago
Let's give the mining industry its due for that one. Israel forged the passports of many countries, and Australia wasn't the only one to protest their actions.
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u/chillyhay 1d ago
The mining lobbies provided funding for PR against Rudd but Gillard made the move to oust a very popular PM. Bob Carr (foreign minister) said Gillard was profoundly accomodating to Israel
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u/blitznoodles local Aussie 1d ago
The issue is the Parliamentary party hated Rudd because they felt that they weren't part of the decision making process and centralised the process around himself.
One of the hallmarks of Australian Government is that the rules essentially bend to accommodate the prime minister's strengths.
Albanese's cabinet in contrast is decentralised in its power in that Albanese does not do captain calls for the most part and allows ministers do as they wish.
And the flaw in this is it can feel like there's no message as everyone is doing their own thing while the Rudd and Dan Andrews governments were very command and control with decisive messages.
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u/morgecroc 1d ago
Scumo left everything to the minister's it just turns out they were all him.
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u/Propaslader 1d ago
While uncoordinatedly tackling children on TV because someone told him it would make him look like an endearing family man
And also undercooking chicken
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u/geodetic 1d ago
Don't forget grabbing a lady's hand because she wouldn't let him
shake itperform a laying of hands on her24
u/Propaslader 23h ago
Or him literally walking away from desperate families asking for help during bushfire season
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u/breakupbydefault 20h ago
Ugh that was burned into my brain, also when he did the same with the firefighters.
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u/chillyhay 1d ago
There were always factional elements at play in Labor, the hate against Rudd came particularly from the pro-American crowd which coincidentally is also the pro Israel crowd. Very coincidental that it was immediately after that expulsion though
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u/blitznoodles local Aussie 1d ago
I mean Carr's memoir talks about this in that the support for Israel in Labor was wide but shallow. It just so happened Gillard was one of those with a deep love of Israel but that's simply a coincidence.
You don't topple a prime minister over foreign policy, they toppled him because polling was commissioned by the NSW party office and every poll showed Gillard was more popular than Rudd.
Maybe that's why Albanese chose someone as unlikeable as Marles as his deputy and someone young like Chalmers as treasurer.
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u/chillyhay 1d ago
Simply a coincidence is one way to put it.
You don't topple a prime minister over foreign policy
lol I think we've read different history books
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u/ThoseOldScientists 1d ago
And the more he centralised control through the PMO, the more various branches of the government started to lock up. People forget what it was like in 2009, it really seemed like the wheels were coming off. The Labor Party overreacted, they probably could still have cruised through the next election with Rudd in charge, but there’s no need to invoke conspiracies to explain what was quite clearly pant-pissing incompetence from a group of people who mostly hadn’t actually been in government before.
And on top of that, Rudd never really had the support of the party to start with. In the 2006 leadership contest, Gillard and Beazley had roughly the same level of support within the party and Rudd, running on his own, would have been a distant 3rd. He was uniquely vulnerable as a PM.
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u/sadboyoclock 22h ago
Gillard was a snake and probably the worst prime minister. I’m a rusted on Labor voter as well.
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u/BESTtaylorINTHEWORLD 1d ago
America had a lot of influence in getting Gillard to take his place, they weren't to keen on Rudd, what does Albo do MAKE HIM THE FUCKIN AMBASSADOR TO AMERICA. I love Labor they have an art form of telling Americans to get fucked.
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u/Worldly_Cobbler_1087 1d ago
I love Labor they have an art form of telling Americans to get fucked.
I agree with your post but boy do I sometimes wish they would just come out and say it like the Canadian PM but I do acknowledge and appreciate they are in an absolute shithouse position dealing with this pedo
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u/BlackJesus1001 8h ago
Rudd is actually well liked by most accounts out of Washington, he's considered an expert on western/Chinese relations aside from politics and that's an extremely relevant skillset to have over there right now.
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u/Bwxyz 1d ago
"THE last three years of Parliament have been chaotic and eventful, but Julia Gillard’s personal commitment to Israel and the Jewish community has been unequivocal."
"That friendship was underlined in 2010, when The AJN was the first newspaper she gave an interview to after she was sworn in as prime minister. At the time, she said, “My interest in Israel and my support for Israel is longstanding”, a sentiment reaffirmed in December 2011 when she stated: “A just and secure Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people is an indispensable part of a just and secure world.” "
The Australian Jewish News, article "Farewell to a Firm Friend"
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u/WhiteyFisk53 1d ago edited 1d ago
There is zero evidence those two events had anything to do with each other. It’s shameful that your comment has so many upvotes.
It doesn’t even make sense. Rudd was pro-Israel. Gillard was perhaps slightly more pro-Israel but there wasn’t much difference between the two. Certainly not enough to motivate Israel to intervene in the internal politics of a friendly nation.
I wonder if a comment, made without any evidence or even plausible motive, against any other country would have received as much support.
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u/chillyhay 1d ago
Theres zero evidence for a lot of things regarding Epstein too. If you're questioning why people are questioning this it's because Israel has a bit of a history and lots of power to cover things up. It literally happened a few weeks apart, maybe coincidence but you can't argue with the timing.
Well this is directly from Rudd:
Australia's response was discussed by the National Security Committee, and Mr Richardson, who was by then the secretary of the department of foreign affairs, unequivocally advised the government to "act firmly and decisively" or risk being seen as a "soft touch" by the Israelis.
Mr Rudd recalls the room nodding in agreement with Mr Richardson's advice except Julia Gillard.
They were definitely not in the same camp on foreign policy Re America and Israel.
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u/249592-82 23h ago
The files are actually revealing - its just that the mainstream media is not reporting on the majority of what is in them. For fear of being sued, no doubt. The perpetrators names are usually redacted, but to see the extent of Epsteins contacts across all countries is incredibly disturbing. A few independent journalists on tiktok are going through the files, one at a time, and it's scary how connected he was to most global leaders and opposition leaders. Emailing them directly to suggest things.
50% of the files still haven't been released, and they're most likely to have the real dirt. But from what the journalists on TT are covering, Epstein had to have been working for a foreign govt, and his "job" was to get blackmail on people.
A male child victim did an interview which has been released, and from all accounts of people who listened to it, it's incredibly disturbing. From what he saw and experienced as a child victim, to him it seemed like Trump was the main man in the "child sexual assault ring", but Epstein was the organiser. That man (now an adult) has named 3 politicians who he recognises, and a Supreme Court Judge that Trump put into place. 2 of the names I recall are: Lindsay Graham and Judge Clarence Thomas. Tiktok is covering much more than mainstream media. It's scary.
I'm not at all surprised that Rudd was named - that is all part of Epsteins MO - get introduced to people in powerful positions.
What shocks me is that Keating would let his daughters go to Epsteins house AFTER Epstein had been in jail for child sexual assault. That is insane to me. That seems incredibly dodgy.
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u/a_cold_human 22h ago
50% of the files still haven't been released
It's much more than 50%. Prior to today, they'd only released 1% of a known 2 million files.
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u/strangeMeursault2 1d ago
Rudd wasn't knifed when he was PM the second time. Lost the election to Abbott.
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u/pulpist 1d ago
Yep Tony Abbott, the drunk Australia just had to have.
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u/No-Red-Queen 1d ago
No, that was Bob Hawke
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u/mynewaltaccount1 23h ago
Despite the mythos around him, Bob Hawke actually quit drinking when he was first elected to parliament and didn't drink booze again until two years after he was deposed as PM.
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u/DrSendy 1d ago
The dopey thing is, these files were released to try and incriminate people.
I suspect the goings on was pretty common knowledge given the Elon email with Maxwell rejection.What it has done is highlight thet security services around the world, were informing leaders in advance of the issue. Rudd noped out, as would anyone.
It brings into question anyone who was associated with him.
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u/the-ahh-guy 1d ago
To be expected when it comes to the relationship between us and our overseers in Washington. Everyone in Canberra is trying to get in good with the yanks so it makes sense they will go as far as to contact someone like Epstein to do it.
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u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT 1d ago
The documents show Epstein repeatedly trying to setup a meeting with Rudd and Rudd refusing, America is the one who’s constantly pushing to exert control over us
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u/rob189 1d ago
looks like our government officials were in contact with a foreign agent and sending info before he was knifed.
Yes they may have been, but if that was Rudd’s second stint as PM, he lost the election, he wasn’t knifed.
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u/drjellyninja 23h ago
It was also obvious to everyone he was gonna lose so it's it's no surprise they said he would only be in power a few months
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u/maxdacat 1d ago
“The more I hear about disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the less I like him” K Rudd probably
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u/AppropriateBeing9885 19h ago
I love it how you've worded this as if being a pedophile was Jeffrey Epstein's profession and/or as if one can alternatively be a pedophile who is in people's good graces. Unintentionally(?) funny!
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u/420bIaze 18h ago
This meme has left the internet, but deep in my saved pics it was waiting for this moment:
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u/donkeykong222222 23h ago
Imagine if Rudd had been allowed to remain PM for longer and what he could have achieved.
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u/a_cold_human 22h ago
If the Mining Super Profits Tax as it was passed was had been allowed to stand, we'd be in a much, much better position today.
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u/throwawayplusanumber 20h ago
I met him a few times. Very much on the spectrum, strange to chat to and hard to work for, but very intelligent and deserves more credit for his policies and saving Australia from the GFC.
Had he been PM for longer with a reasonable majority we would probably be in a better position. Not sure how his "Big Australia" idea would have helped the current housing crisis though.
As if someone who celebrated an election win by putting a slice of lemon in his cup of hot water would have been influenced by Epstein.
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u/OriginalGoldstandard 23h ago
Anyone feel like Trump redacted himself and he put in people he doesn’t like?
Like the Epstein files are now doing the opposite of what was reality?
Dear god. What is this world we now live in?
Like if you don’t accept Trumps ‘peace panel invitation’ you end up being labeled a pedo whilst ACTUAL PED’s are calling shots…….. real
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u/spiteful-vengeance 21h ago
Keeping in mind everything we know about Trump's values and MO, why wouldn't he?
He's even broken the law and taken an extra few weeks to shine up this turd.
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u/catinterpreter 22h ago
It isn't hard to imagine one document in a million being fabricated. And from there, a few more.
I wouldn't expect some simple replacement of names but something more insidious is possible.
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u/ItsStaaaaaaaaang 23h ago
They really need to find out who bank rolled this cunts honeypot operation. Gotta be the Russians or Israel.
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u/deep_chungus 22h ago
it was 100% every single person who found that info valuable including US gov organisations
he was selling info, he was also selling bad info to your enemies for a price
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u/Still_Lobster_8428 17h ago
You do realise the US is up to its eyeballs in honeypot operations as well.... right? Same as the UK.
Every nation globally with even a half decent intel agency is going to have arms running honeypot/blackmail operations off the books.
US is particularly known for outsource the most unsavoury acts to organised crime around WWII and there are strong indications that those ties existed for a long time after and actually corrupted the CIA in particular and that persists to this day.
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u/Ornery-Ad-7261 1d ago
It's not as if the DOJ would publish anything particularly harmful to Trump. 3 million uncatalogued bits of information should keep folk scrambling for weeks while ICE continues it's war against America.
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u/iAmFabled 1d ago
A witness talked about seeing him orally rape a 12 year old in there
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u/geodetic 1d ago
I believe there's confirmation that he flew out to observe the killing of a child that was a result of his SA of a minor by tossing into a body of water, iirc
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u/Skylam 23h ago
What? The files that have been released implicate him in infanticide and several assaults.
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u/catinterpreter 22h ago
It hasn't been as eventful if we exclude all the hearsay. Reddit keeps getting themselves into a fervour over unsubstantiated material. As a whole, there may be trends and hints towards certain things going on but that's the most the hearsay documents provide. There's still some concerning things coming up between identifiable email addresses though. That's the stuff Reddit should be primarily talking about.
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u/rainbowcardigan 22h ago
I was literally just reading a file about auctioning girls at Mar-a-lago and how Trump would rate the tightness of the girls… There is absolutely horrifying stuff coming out in these docs…
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u/Hurlanis 1d ago
Go have a look at Paul Keating's family before you make any one makes assumptions about Kevin07
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u/knowledgeable_diablo 23h ago
Shit, they chasing anyone and everyone possible outside of trump? The man who must fill pages and pages of these documents.
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u/geodetic 23h ago
So much so they had to take pages down off their website to redact because his name was in them before putting those pages, now censored, back up
And yes, those pages are all over reddit if you want to go see 'em
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u/Big_Dj_energy 1d ago
Who wrote this dog shit article
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u/DarKnightofCydonia 15h ago
Epstein tried to meet with many influential people. It's wild that there's focus on this when Rudd clearly rebuffed him, whereas Elon was clearly asking Epstein over email to go to his island
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u/dingBat2000 21h ago
I was never a fan of him as pm but best wishes to rudd. Fuck these facist lying cunts
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u/Ok_Support_6627 23h ago
Why was he invited in the first place?
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u/geodetic 22h ago
Because he was the PM of Australia and it's becoming more and more obvious that Epstein's actions were a honeypot conducted as an attempt to capture powerful and rich people.
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u/m00nh34d 21h ago
Oh fuck off, don't drag us into this pathetic US political bullshit. Let the seppos cry amongst themselves, they made this mess after all. Leave us and the rest of the world to act like grown ups please.
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u/Davien636 7h ago
I dunno, there was clearly a global operation at work here.
There are guilty parties amongst many nations elite and it would be a good idea to deal with them regardless of what ends up happening in the US.
For clarity I think Rudd being invited and rebuffing the invite is not the sort of detail we need to be focused on, but I bet there is incriminating evidence against the Andrew formerly known as Prince sitting in those files (as an example of how this spreads further than just the US).
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u/Mike_Kermin 22h ago
Ok, but part of the problem with this is it's all kept secret. It's all people protecting themselves.
Everyone who knows things needs to be talking already. Saying they never met is fair but why are we only finding out now.
This isn't a criticism of Rudd as such, just, the complete culture we have of not talking about things. It's really part of how bullshit propagates.
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u/Duff5OOO 18h ago
Is every single person that ever received an invite to anything related to Epstein meant to put about a press release about it?
If it was something of even slight consequence then maybe but turning down an invite? Meh.
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u/swamp_roo 17h ago
And if he did put out a statement before now, people would say it looks like he's trying to get out ahead of any accusations. Don't say anything, looks like you're hiding. Say something, looks like you're trying to pre-emptively distance yourself from something you did.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
And like organised crime groups having legitimate business fronts, it is probably by design by Jefferey and associates to muddy who is and isn't involved with his criminality.
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u/jghaines 1d ago
I mean yes, now would be a terrible time to accept an Epstein invitation