Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is the 26th and current Prime Minister of Australia and federal leader of the centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP). Under Rudd's leadership, the Labor Party won the 2007 federal election on 24 November against the incumbent centre-right Liberal/National coalition government led by John Howard (see Howard Government). The first ministry of the Rudd Government was sworn in by the Governor-General, Michael Jeffery, on 3 December 2007. Rudd was born in Nambour, Queensland to parents Albert Rudd and Margaret née DeVere, and grew up on a dairy farm in nearby Eumundi. Farm life, which required the use of horses and guns, is where he developed his...