Australia's Rudd publishes book to mark 100 days

By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd celebrated his first 100 days in office by publishing a booklet on his achievements on Friday, and dismissed critics who said nothing much has changed since he took office.

Rudd's centre-left Labor Party won elections 97 days ago on November 24, 2007, ending almost 12 years of conservative rule. Rudd officially took power on December 3.

But newspapers have begun rolling out stories about Rudd's first 100 days, with some critical that Rudd's government has set up dozens of committees, reviews and inquiries, but has made few hard decisions.

"If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, then Australia is at risk of growing humps," Sydney Morning Herald Political Correspondent Phillip Coorey wrote on Friday, in a swipe at Rudd's fondness for setting up committees.

Rudd's 55-page book cites his decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate, the deployment of extra troops to East Timor, and preparing to pull Australian combat forces out of Iraq, as key achievements.

But Rudd told reporters the biggest change to Australia since his election win was his government's apology to Aborigines for historic mistreatment.

"When we undertook the apology to parliament ... we were doing something I believe was of long-term and enduring value to the nation," Rudd said.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Rudd had averaged one new committee or inquiry every four days since he won office, while the Herald Sun newspaper said Rudd had commissioned at least 47 committees, with 50 more promised during the election campaign.

Rudd defended his actions on Friday, saying the former conservative government set up 495 inquiries and reviews in 2005-06 alone.

"It is a responsible course of action for an incoming government to say, here are areas where you need to review the future direction," Rudd said.

Political analyst Nick Economou, from Melbourne's Monash University, said Rudd had made a good start to government, and had deliberately set out to find some kind of national consensus for his agenda.

"I think he is going quite well," Economou said.

"He handled the apology stuff with aplomb. He could be sacked tomorrow and he's already carved out a big place for himself in Australian political history -- a good place."

He said Rudd's fascination with committees and reviews, including his plans for an ideas summit of 1,000 people in April, were all designed to help the government deliver its plans.

"He's got an agenda for what he wants to achieve, but he wants to bring people on board in doing it," he said.