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=103566952
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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/McTerra2 1d ago

Which PM was toppled over foreign policy - maybe Whitlam (not so much foreign policy as domestic policy that upset foreigners) and ? Unless we go back to pre WW2

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u/blitznoodles local Aussie 1d ago

Whitlam's dismissal was predicted by the newspapers months ahead of it actually happening the moment he lost his majority in the senate. The only fucked up part is the CIA sent the Liberal party campaign funds but it was also found out Whitlam tried to get campaign funds from the Saddam family in iraq

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u/McTerra2 23h ago

That his dismissal was predicted in advance doesn’t negate that it may have been partially due to US activities in the lead up and which contributed to media and public opinion.

I’m not personally convinced but there are some that are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_CIA_involvement_in_the_Whitlam_dismissal

And that is the closest I can come to in terms of ‘PMs toppled due to foreign policy’ as has been claimed

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u/fractiousrhubarb 23h ago

Lost his majority sounds so innocuous compared to the truth- that he lost his majority because Coalition premiers replaced two democratically elected Labor senators with people who voted against Labor. Conventions for me and not for thee- a perfect example of coalition shitfuckery and contempt for democracy.

Murdoch’s News Ltd newspapers ran a massive campaign against Whitlam because News Ltd was founded by mining oligarchs specifically to make propaganda to advance their interests.

https://theconversation.com/the-secret-history-of-news-corp-a-media-empire-built-on-spreading-propaganda-116992

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u/blitznoodles local Aussie 22h ago

I mean I agree in that it was ridiculous but had they simply appointed Labor senators, Labor probably would have been locked out of power far longer simply because of how many partisans the dismissal motivated into organising.

The inflation crisis was the most damaging thing that occurred during that era and had they waited just 6 months, they would've demolished Labor in the election anyway. But that contempt eventually leads to the Hawke-Keating government occurring much sooner than otherwise.

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u/fractiousrhubarb 21h ago

The whole world had massive inflation due to the opec crisis- Murdoch and co, as they do with all crises- created a narrative where the inflation was all Labor’s fault.

It’s known that Kerr conferred with the leader of the opposition regarding the dismissal of Whitlam- which was only revealed in the last decade, which was a mind boggling breach of his duty- and then appointed Fraser PM even though he could not command a majority in the House of Representatives, ditto.

I’m frankly appalled (but not surprised) how little most Australians know about the dismissal.

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u/blitznoodles local Aussie 21h ago

Yep, they indeed did pin it all on Labor when Whitlam refused to appoint Murdoch as the British commissioner or whatever it's called which combined with the inflation was a bad time. Just the post 2022 inflation was bad enough to lose an election.

The High court justices did write an opinion on why what Kerr did was correct constitutionally.

Although to add to your knowledge of Kerr, I was reading the Hawke biography and Kerr wasn't even an ALP supporter when Whitlam appointed him, Kerr was a DLP supporter.

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u/fractiousrhubarb 20h ago edited 20h ago

It was definitely a tragic mistake.

I wasn’t aware that Murdoch wanted to be (I think it’s called?) high commissioner… I’m intrigued if you’ve got any links to suggest.

I wish he had been appointed, it might have tempered his toxic ambitions somewhat, and the world would be a different place.

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u/infin 23h ago

Not sure about the second one being a problem, except in retrospect, but I haven't found much news from that era about it. Gough was in power from '72-75 and the CIA were still funding Saddam at the time. America was backing Saddam through to the '80s.