Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia) in the context of Federal Executive Council (Australia)

Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and in 2013. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party from 2006 to 2010, with a brief return to the leadership in 2013. Since 2023, Rudd has served as the 23rd ambassador of Australia to the United States.

Born in Nambour, Queensland, Rudd graduated from the Australian National University with honours in Chinese studies, and is fluent in Mandarin. Before politics, he worked as a diplomat and public servant for the Queensland state government of Wayne Goss. Rudd was elected to the Australian House of Representatives at the 1998 federal election for the Queensland division of Griffith. He was promoted to the shadow cabinet in 2001 as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. He assumed leadership of the Labor Party in December 2006 by defeating Kim Beazley in a leadership spill, becoming leader of the opposition. Rudd led Labor to a landslide victory at the 2007 election; his government's earliest acts included ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and delivering the first national apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples for the Stolen Generations. His government responded to the 2008 financial crisis, implementing economic stimulus packages that resulted in Australia becoming one of the only developed countries to avoid the Great Recession. Rudd's government also oversaw the establishment of the National Broadband Network (NBN), the launch of the Digital Education Revolution and Building the Education Revolution programs, dismantling WorkChoices, and withdrew Australian troops from the Iraq War.

The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS /ˈeɪsɪs/) is the foreign intelligence agency of the Commonwealth of Australia, responsible for gathering, processing, and analysing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence. The service was formed in 1952, however its existence remained secret within much of the government and to the public until 1972. ASIS is a primary entity of the Australian Intelligence Community.

ASIS is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) portfolio and has its headquarters in Canberra. Its director-general, currently Kerri Hartland, reports to the minister for foreign affairs. The service is comparable to the CIA (US) and MI6 (UK).

Herbert Vere "Doc" Evatt (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a justice of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949, and leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition from 1951 to 1960. Evatt is considered one of Australia's most prominent public intellectuals of the twentieth century.

Evatt was born in East Maitland, New South Wales, and grew up on Sydney's North Shore. He studied law at the University of Sydney, attaining the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) in 1924. After a period in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (1925–1930), Evatt was appointed to the High Court in 1930 by the Scullin government. He was 36 years old, and remains the youngest appointee in the court's history. He was considered an innovative judge, but left the court to seek election to federal parliament at the 1940 federal election.

The Turnbull government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Australian federal election. The government consisted of members of Australia's Liberal-Nationals Coalition. Turnbull took office by challenging his leader, Tony Abbott, in an internal leadership ballot. Warren Truss, the leader of the Nationals, served as deputy prime minister until he retired in 2016 and was replaced by Barnaby Joyce. Joyce resigned in February 2018 and the Nationals' new leader Michael McCormack became deputy prime minister. The Turnbull government concluded with Turnbull's resignation ahead of internal leadership ballot which saw him succeeded as prime minister by Scott Morrison and the Morrison government.

In mounting his 2015 public challenge for the leadership, Turnbull cited extended poor polling in Newspoll by the Abbott government and said Australia needed a new style of "economic leadership". Turnbull appointed Morrison as Treasurer in an expanded ministry, promoting several key supporters. Julie Bishop remained as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Conservatives Tony Abbott, Eric Abetz and Kevin Andrews were sent to the backbench. Joe Hockey left Parliament. The Turnbull government continued a number of Abbott government initiatives, promising a plebiscite legalising same-sex marriage, concluding Abbott era initiatives on an anti-domestic violence campaign, funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme, signing a China free trade deal, and reforming Senate voting.

William George Hayden (23 January 1933 – 21 October 2023) was an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1983 to 1988 under Bob Hawke and as Treasurer of Australia in 1975 under Gough Whitlam.

Hayden was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He attended Brisbane State High School and then joined the Queensland Police, working as a police officer for eight years while studying economics part-time at the University of Queensland. Hayden was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1961 federal election, aged 28 – along with Manfred Cross and Doug McClelland, Hayden was the earliest elected Labor MP still alive at the time of his death. When Gough Whitlam led the Labor Party to victory in 1972, Hayden was made Minister for Social Security. He replaced Jim Cairns as treasurer in 1975, but served for only five months before the government was dismissed.