Hey Scottie……if you’re out there, tell us what you think of Rudd. I know there are MANY Aussies glad to be rid of Howard.

Australia’s new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, made climate change his top priority on Sunday, seeking advice on ratifying the Kyoto pact and telling Indonesia he will go to December’s UN climate summit in Bali.

Rudd, who swept aside 11 years of conservative rule by John Howard in Saturday elections, also spoke to U.S. President George W. Bush by phone, but would not say when he planned to start a promised withdrawal of 500 Australian combat troops from Iraq.

“I emphasized to President Bush the centrality of the U.S. alliance in our approach to foreign policy,” Rudd said in his first media conference on Sunday as prime minister elect, adding he would visit Washington early next year.

Rudd, 50, presented himself to voters as a new-generation leader by promising to pull troops out of Iraq and ratify the Kyoto Protocol capping greenhouse gas emissions, further isolating Washington on both issues.

More at Reuters