The Sydney Institute's Annual Dinner
- The Sydney Institute Annual Dinner 2008
- Date: 16th April 2008
- Time: 7:00pm (arrive at 6:30pm)
- Venue: The Grand Harbour Ballroom, Star City, Sydney
Dress: Black Tie
Australia’s new Labor Prime Minister, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP, led Labor to an historic win in the 2007 federal election. The Sydney Institute’s Annual Dinner for 2008 will be one of Kevin Rudd’s first major speeches as Prime Minister.
Kevin Rudd was born in the country town of Nambour in Queensland in 1957, the son of a share farmer and a nurse. He was educated at the Eumundi Primary School, Marist College, Ashgrove and Nambour State High School, where he was Dux of the school. He joined the Australian Labor Party at the age of 15 in 1972. Prior to entering Parliament in 1998, Kevin Rudd worked as a diplomat, a senior official in the Queensland government and as a consultant helping Australian firms to establish and build business links in China.
In 1998 Kevin Rudd was elected to the federal parliament for the seat of Griffith. He was immediately elected Chair of the parliamentary Labor Party’s Committee on National Security & Trade and served on a variety of parliamentary committees and taskforces. Following the November 2001 election, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, subsequently adding responsibilities for International Security in 2003 and Trade in 2005. On 4 December 2006, Kevin Rudd became the nineteenth leader of the Australian Labor Party and on 24 November 2007 led the ALP to government, winning 24 seats.
Kevin Rudd has written extensively on Chinese politics, Chinese foreign policy, Australia-Asia relations and globalisation. He is married to Thérèse Rein and they have three children.