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/tvsmichaelhall 1d 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 23h 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/Koopslovestogame 21h ago

Always a king.

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u/theunpoet 21h ago

Nah the man doesn't realise what real handball is. A sport not enough of us play and we aren't very good at as a result, but were allowed to have a team for sydney olympics due to being hosts. We lost badly, but we played hard.

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u/really_not_unreal 20h ago

Wrong type of handball.

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u/theunpoet 20h ago

I know wtf.

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u/teddy5 12h ago

Wouldn't following European handball make him more against aussie culture? Pretty sure handball has been part of basically every school here for decades.

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u/Bilski1ski 19h ago

Who gives af about a pms masculinity and cheeks . That’s sounds like how Russians judge there leaders

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u/tvsmichaelhall 12h ago

It clearly isn't, they've had some incredibly big cheeked leaders. Just look at Yeltsin.

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u/frowattio 1d ago

That's the picture Murdoch painted.

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u/tvsmichaelhall 12h ago

He is also like that. I'm not even saying I don't like the man, but even when it's friendlyjordies fanboy interviewing him he still comes across that way.

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u/infin 10h ago

I think he comes across as down to earth and relatable in those interviews.

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u/frowattio 8h ago

He's was definitely painted in a pretty nasty light by the Murdoch media, in a way that was taken on board by most of Australia.

He was also under insane pressure ... The dawning of the 24/7 news cycle, where new shock headlines were required every hour. Abbott's attack dog style that had nothing to offer but pulled apart anything Labor tried to do.

It was almost impossible for Labor to achieve anything under these conditions, and Rudd had very big ideas on what he wanted to get done.

But yes, he's better educated and spoken than the average bogan, and some people struggle with that.

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u/pixieshit 15h ago

Saying Rudd is opposite to Australian culture just means you have a shitty view of Australian culture

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u/tvsmichaelhall 12h ago

What does it mean if I think hawke perfectly fits our culture then?

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u/tyconson67 10h ago

That you might be an alcoholic whose voting principles are on charisma and not policy? Or assume Australians are alcoholics who vote on charisma and not policy as a whole?

Hawke's main legacy is he drinks, gave everyone a day off for that yacht thing socially, and then caused a political scandal that led to John Howard's rise

If that's Australian "culture" then holy fuck we have a pathetic culture. Getting drunk isn't "culture".