Kevin Rudd realized it as an Australia ambassador in the US in Washington.
Documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) show that the former Labor Prime Minister who had held the former Prime Minister in Australia in the new embassy building of Australia, $ 44,000 was paid for a single song to be written and performed by an Australian composer.
The documents were published under a request for freedom of information board that was submitted by the 'Government Waste Watcher' of the Federal opposition James Stevens MP.
“Only a few weeks after last year's critical presidential elections, Kevin Rudd's $ 45,000 Symphonic Commission seems to be a complete distraction of the important priority of building relationships with important members of future American managers,” Stevens said.
“This ode to Kevin is only the last (in) size in his party palace in Washington,” said Mr. Stevens.
Australian composer Michael Grebla, based on New York, was initially contracted to make the song 'Unbreakable' debut during the launch of the Embassy Building in the end of 2023.
But it was postponed and instead the 'World Première' was at the one-year anniversary of the Massachusetts Avenue site at the end of last year.
Other expenses at the party in honor of the expensive new construction were $ 10,000 for catering, $ 450 for 'emergency voting' of a large piano and $ 700 to move the piano to another place in the same room.
Another day another party for Kevin Rudd and wife Thérèse Rein (shown on February 21)
The Australian embassy in Washington DC was designed by Architects Bates Smart and recently rebuilt – at important costs – on the same site (the interior of the building is depicted)
This is not the first time that ambassador Rudd has been called to spend great on social events.
In the past financial year he spent $ 172,000 – including $ 24,000 in one day.
According to DFAT documents released on the Daily Telegraph, the representative spent $ 24,000 on breakfast, morning tea, dinners and a reception in his residence in Washington on October 1, 2023.
In September it was revealed that Mr Rudd had spent $ 150,000 on travel since he had been placed abroad in 2022.
The song played at the one -year anniversary party for the new embassy building was paid by sponsors and no taxpayers, the government said.
In a proposal letter, Mr. Grebla said that he had chosen the title, 'Unbreakable', to reflect the shared values ​​that underlie the American and Australian governments.
'I think the alliance is' unbreakable' because the common ideals on which it is based (freedom, an honest, democracy to name just a few) are in itself unacceptable (even if we are) and the core of what it is to be an Australian and also an American.
“When we are tested, we both stood with those ideals, and each other, every time, and have prevailed for more than a hundred years.”
The American ambassador Kevin Rudd has been repeatedly criticized because he spends large on social events
Warwick Thornton, Kevin Rudd, Tanya Bennett, Teresa Palmer, Tim Minchin On the 22nd annual G'Day USA Arts Gala held in the Skirball Cultural Center on February 21, 2025 in Los Angeles
DFAT said that the costs were part of promoting the interests of Australians.
“Australian embassies and diplomats regularly organize functions that are present of influential stakeholders and present Australian creative talent and expertise,” the spokesperson said.
“This is a nuclear part of promoting the interests of Australia abroad.”
Dr. Rudd's position as an ambassador was questioned after Donald Trump was chosen in the White House for a second term.
He previously called Trump a 'traitor for the West', a 'village idiot' and described him as the 'most destructive president in history'.
In response, Trump said that Rudd was 'filthy' and that he would not last long in the role if he returned to the White House.
Since the elections there has been a stream of calls to Rudd to resign, which increased after the appointment of Dan Scavino as a deputy Staff chef from Trump.
Scavino had previously posted an ominous poison of an hourglass in response to Rudd's official statement that Trump congratulates on his victory on November 7.
Dr. Rudd went to social media to insist that Australia's relationship had gone with the US from 'strength to strength', regardless of who was in the Oval Office.
“Australia and the United States share a close and special friendship,” wrote Rudd.
'It is a bond that has been strengthened over generations and about the political aisle in both countries. And it will continue to bloom in the coming years. '
