'The world will miss Kevin Rudd'

EAST Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has voiced concerns about the future direction of Australia's foreign aid program, in the wake of ructions within the Labor government and Kevin Rudd's departure as foreign minister.

Dr Ramos-Horta, who is attempting to win a second presidential term, was shocked when Mr Rudd was dumped in 2010 in favour of Julia Gillard and says his departure as foreign minister last week will be greeted with disappointment in broader diplomatic circles.

Mr Rudd was soundly defeated by Ms Gillard in Monday's leadership ballot and will now remain on the back bench.
"It's a tremendous loss for Australia not to have Kevin Rudd either as prime minister or foreign minister," Dr Ramos-Horta said.
"He has a brilliant mind, highly regarded around the world."
"I know from first-hand experience how in Washington, in Europe, Korea, in Japan, China, people were shocked when he was ousted (as prime minister)."

But Dr Ramos-Horta said he was now more worried about the broader implications of Mr Rudd's departure as foreign minister and what he described as the current "turmoil" in Australian politics in terms of Australia's foreign aid policy.
It was Mr Rudd who introduced the policy of growing Australia's foreign aid program to 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015, and he was seen as the key driver of the policy, as prime minister and foreign minister.

East Timor, as one of the world's youngest countries, has been a major beneficiary of the policy as it struggles to cope with developmental challenges.
"People respect the choices of the party, but yet they cannot but regret that they no longer have such a capable intellectual interlocutor to deal with some of the pressing issues in the region and in the world like climate change, like trade issues," Dr Ramos-Horta said.

"People would like to see Australia lead other countries in development assistance."
"With Kevin Rudd not there, with the turmoil in Australia, people are worried what is the direction of Australian foreign aid, what is direction of Australian foreign security policy."

Prime Minister Gillard is expected to reshuffle her front bench as early as Friday.
Dr Ramos-Horta is facing significant challenges of his own, with the East Timorese presidential race expected to be a close contest.

While it was thought initially Dr Ramos-Horta's main rival would again be Fretilin's Francisco Guterres, whom he defeated in 2007 in a second-round run-off, it now appears the strongest challenge could come from the country's former armed forces chief.

Like the other two leading candidates, Taur Matan Ruak, who resigned as head of the armed forces in 2011, was also a former resistance fighter during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.
East Timorese will vote on March 17.
'The world will miss Kevin Rudd' | Herald Sun