Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd was yesterday admitted to hospital for surgery to treat severe stomach pain one month after he was dramatically removed from office by his own party.
The former Labor leader, 52, was admitted to hospital in Brisbane after suffering acute abdominal pain, a spokesman said.
“Mr Rudd will have an operation to remove his gallbladder later today,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Rudd, who is standing for re-election in his Queensland seat in Aug. 21 national polls, has haunted the election campaign of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who wrested power from him in a party coup late last month.
Gillard has publicly promised Rudd a senior ministerial role if Labor is re-elected, but her campaign has lost momentum amid damaging Cabinet leaks, which some have suggested may have come from Rudd.
Former colleague and one-time prime ministerial candidate Mark Latham yesterday challenged Rudd over the leaks, which revealed that the childless Gillard once questioned a popular pension increase for the elderly and paid maternity leave.
Latham, who led the Labor Party for 13 months before resigning in January 2005, citing ill health and amid dissent about his leadership, suggested Rudd had taken the “snake’s way” of leaking to journalists.
“I think it’s unmanly and beneath a decent Aussie bloke to act this way, let alone an ex-prime minister,” Latham told Sky News on Thursday. “So I challenge Kevin Rudd to be a man, to be honest, to have some honor and actually, if he feels this strongly about it, put his name to his words.”
A spokesman for Rudd said the former leader would not comment, but was committed to a Labor victory.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
RSS