Australia's ambassador Kevin Rudd purges critical tweets after Trump win

SYDNEY: Australia's high-profile ambassador to Washington - former centre-left prime minister Kevin Rudd - has deleted a series of withering social media posts about Donald Trump, following the Republican's election victory.

Australia's foreign affairs department confirmed Rudd had deleted posts on social media platform X that had described Trump as "destructive" and a "traitor to the West".

A department official told a parliamentary hearing Thursday that Rudd had deleted the tweets to "eliminate the possibility of such comments being misconstrued".

"Ambassador Rudd looks forward to working with President Trump and his team to continue strengthening the US-Australia alliance," the official said.