<p>Leadership tensions within Australia’s ruling Labor party erupted on Sunday with the release of a video showing ex-prime minister Kevin Rudd on an expletive-ridden rant about a Chinese interpreter.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The two-minute video, uploaded onto YouTube by a user called “HappyVegemiteKR”, shows an irate Rudd trying to record a message in Mandarin and railing against the “dickhead in the embassy” who wrote the text.<br /><br />“This f****g language, he just complicates it so much. How can anyone do this?” Rudd, a former diplomat who speaks Mandarin, shouts as he slams his fist on the table in front of him.<br /><br />Rudd was ousted as leader in a shock party coup in June 2010 by his deputy, Julia Gillard, who scraped back into power at elections and is now badly lagging in the polls.<br /><br />Speculation has intensified in recent weeks that Rudd, currently Australia’s foreign minister, is preparing to challenge for the top job.<br /><br />He denied this but said a suspicious person would question the “unusual” timing of the video’s release, given that it was shot several years ago when he was still prime minister.<br /><br />Gillard admitted the leadership tensions were hurting her government. She deflected questions about her leadership and said it was an “incredible privilege” to lead the country.</p>
<p>Leadership tensions within Australia’s ruling Labor party erupted on Sunday with the release of a video showing ex-prime minister Kevin Rudd on an expletive-ridden rant about a Chinese interpreter.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The two-minute video, uploaded onto YouTube by a user called “HappyVegemiteKR”, shows an irate Rudd trying to record a message in Mandarin and railing against the “dickhead in the embassy” who wrote the text.<br /><br />“This f****g language, he just complicates it so much. How can anyone do this?” Rudd, a former diplomat who speaks Mandarin, shouts as he slams his fist on the table in front of him.<br /><br />Rudd was ousted as leader in a shock party coup in June 2010 by his deputy, Julia Gillard, who scraped back into power at elections and is now badly lagging in the polls.<br /><br />Speculation has intensified in recent weeks that Rudd, currently Australia’s foreign minister, is preparing to challenge for the top job.<br /><br />He denied this but said a suspicious person would question the “unusual” timing of the video’s release, given that it was shot several years ago when he was still prime minister.<br /><br />Gillard admitted the leadership tensions were hurting her government. She deflected questions about her leadership and said it was an “incredible privilege” to lead the country.</p>