Sydney: Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd sought a sympathetic phone call from Hillary Clinton after being dumped as leader in 2010, but days later had not got one, a new batch of emails from the US presidential front-runner shows.
Rudd was disappointed that six days after he was ousted in a Labor leadership coup by Julia Gillard, he had not heard from the then secretary of state.
The revelation was among over 4,000 more emails released by the US State Department kept by Clinton on a private server, an issue that has sparked fears of possible security breaches and overshadowed her campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
Rudd’s request for sympathy, and career advice, was made through intermediaries, former US ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich revealed in an email dated June 30, 2010.
“I spoke at length with former PM Rudd on Monday,” Bleich wrote.
“Although he did not raise the issue, his aide called Edgard [Kagan, a US embassy official] afterward and noted that Rudd had not heard from S [Clinton] and would have hoped for a sympathetic call.”
Rudd did hear from US President Barack Obama, Bleich said.
“But, I think he and S had a good relationship and he may want to talk to her about his future career goals.”
It was not clear whether he eventually got the call, but Fairfax Media said he subsequently secured an appointment with Clinton in Washington, where she reportedly ended up giving over most of an otherwise busy afternoon counselling him to pick himself up.
Rudd later became foreign minister in the Gillard government and ousted her to become prime minister again in June 2013, only to be defeated by current leader Tony Abbott at the polls in September that year.
