Speaker

The speaker of the apology speech is Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia. Rudd was the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 2006 to 2010, and Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 and 2010.

Rudd joined the Labor Party when he was 15 years old. As a young man, he studied at the Australian National University of Canberra and then began a diplomatic career as ambassador in Stockholm and Beijing which lasted from 1981 to 1988. In 1988, Rudd was elected to the Australian House of Representatives. He was re-elected in 2001 and 2004, and frequently appeared as the Labor Party’s spokesperson in the following years. Rudd was known as an outspoken critic of the previous administration – led by Prime Minister John Howard, the leader of the Liberal Party – and its approach to the Iraq war. In 2006, Rudd was chosen leader of the Australian Labor Party.

On 3rd of December, 2007, Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Prime Minister. One of the first acts of the Rudd Government was the delivery of the formal apolog...