Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has returned to parliament, looking much flatter than when he left almost 10 years ago.
He had returned to the national capital for the unveiling of his official prime ministerial portrait by artist Ralph Heimans, which will be mounted on the wall beside his successors Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, whose portraits were both completed and hung years before.
The man who led Labor to power after more than a decade of Coalition rule in 2007, said sitting for the portrait had been pushed to the side when he sought "political asylum in the United States" following his exit from parliament in 2013.
But after joking that public servants had threatened to do a "knock-up job" using an old photo unless he sat for it, Mr Rudd was painted by Heimans, also the portrait artist to the late Queen Elizabeth II, and to King Charles when he was still the Prince of Wales.
"Vanity ultimately prevailed," Mr Rudd joked.
In his portrait, Mr Rudd strikes a pondering pose at his home on the Sunshine Coast.
On his desk sits a chess board, a game in motion, with his adopted cat Louis wandering between the chess pieces.
On the library wall behind Mr Rudd are countless books, Chinese porcelain vases, and a framed copy of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, delivered on behalf of the parliament by Mr Rudd in 2008.
A number of books are scattered before Mr Rudd, including some in Mandarin, one on House of Representatives practice, and a book about former Labor prime minister John Curtin.
Unveiling the portrait before his family, Labor figures and onlookers, a cheerful Mr Rudd joked about the strangeness of the occasion.
"It's a funny thing being asked to speak at an event like this," he said.
"I have done a lot of public speaking over the years … but speaking at the unveiling of your prime ministerial portrait is the closest you come in life to being the after-dinner speaker at your own wake."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose own likeness will one day be mounted on the same walls, said Mr Rudd gave parliament one of its finest moments "since federation".
"It is an extraordinary honour for me, as someone who served as deputy prime minister to you a decade ago, to welcome you here as prime minister today," he said.
"But I also welcome you here … as someone who gave this magnificent parliament one of the finest moments I believe it's had since federation.
"That Apology [to the Stolen Generations] was spoken about for a long period of time … we have unfinished business, but you made a contribution which can never be taken away and can never be diminished."
'Be a spitfire': Rudd recounts Keating's advice
Mr Rudd thanked Heimans, the crowd, his Labor compatriots, his family, and in particular his wife of 42 years Therese Rein, who he joked deserved a "long service medal".
He also paid tribute to another Labor prime minister, Paul Keating, who he said inspired his approach to governing during a conversation when Mr Rudd was just a young staffer.
"Kevvy, Kevvy, if you're going to go into politics, don't waste time, just hop into it," Mr Rudd recounted Mr Keating as saying.
"A lot of people think that in politics that it's like flying a Lancaster bomber; slow and ambling over the target before eventually you deliver your ordinance.
"Mate, they can take you out before you even get to the target — our job is to be a spitfire: in, out, do your business. Don't waste time.
For today's politicians, Mr Rudd also offered a brief reflection on the coming referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
"We often in positions of political leadership think that it is too hard, that is, that the challenges we face are too great," he said.
My experience, for what it's worth, is the great challenges we face as a nation often appear much greater in the anticipation than the execution.
"When they said that the Apology would be a problem for the nation, it would unleash this torrent of litigation from Indigenous communities across the country, that it would, in fact, set the process of reconciliation backwards not forwards, we proved them wrong.
"It is not my place to wade into the politics of this referendum … but I would simply reflect on this: Fears were raised 15 years ago. Other fears have been raised today. I would simply ask all Australians to reflect on the fundamentals about whether those fears are well-founded or not.
"The arc of history bends slowly towards justice."
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIzLTA4LTEwL2tldmluLXJ1ZGQtZm9ybWVyLXByaW1lLW1pbmlzdGVyLXVudmVpbHMtb2ZmaWNpYWwtcG9ydHJhaXQvMTAyNzEyMjc40gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMjcxMjI3OA?oc=5
2023-08-10 03:36:37Z
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