I know from visits to the region that Rudd is held in high regard by a number of regional leaders, especially Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He also raised to a new level links with non-English-speaking leaders such as Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam, President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Gillard will soon have excellent opportunities to develop further relations, at heads of government level, with a number of leaders in coming months at a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, as well as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the APEC heads of government meeting, and then the East Asian Summit, which is to be attended for the first time by presidents Barak Obama and Medvedev in Bali in November.

The main areas in which Australia has benefited from the difference Rudd has made, first as prime minister and then as Foreign Minister, are the evolution of the G20, which led to an agreed response to the Western financial crisis in 2007 and progress in the development of the Asia-Pacific community concept. Rudd's role in the G20 has been acknowledged by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The promotion of an Asia-Pacific community has also been widely acknowledged, including by Clinton, as a good example of creative middle power diplomacy at work.

Rudd has been active, initially as prime minister and now as Foreign Minister, as has Gillard, in promoting Australia's candidacy for the Security Council for 2013-14.

Despite the shortcomings of the UN, it is important for Australia to play an active role in the council's efforts to resolve conflict, especially as our forces in East Timor and Afghanistan are there under council mandates.