KEY POINTS:
In charismatic terms, if nothing else, Kevin Rudd is a match for Prime Minister John Howard.
Earnest, intelligent and well schooled in politics if something of a rookie in practice, Rudd's public persona runs in a similar vein.
But he will have his work sharply cut out to
defeat Howard in next year's election.
Rudd has first to return unity and harmony to a party that has all too publicly missed both over the past decade - but he does at least have time to do his best before the nation votes.
He also has to redefine Labor, which has wallowed in a fairly formless centre since it lost power in 1996 and which has yet to find a vision and relevance for the 21st century.
Neither will be easy, especially in the heat of an election year.
But Rudd's performance as foreign affairs spokesman has both given him high visibility and provided him with a platform for considered and intelligent policy formation.
He will also have with him as deputy leader Julian Gillard, the Welsh-born shadow health minister who has shown real ability and has won considerable popular appeal.
Rudd's path to leadership hasnot followed a traditional Laborroute.
Born in Queensland in 1957 to a Country (now National) Party father who died when he was 11, he was dux of his high school, a boarder at Brisbane's Marist College, and studied Chinese language and culture at the Australian National University.
For much of the 1980s Rudd worked with the diplomatic service, then became chief of staff for then-Queensland Premier Wayne Goss.
In 1991 he was appointed director-general of the state's Cabinet Office.
Rudd left politics when Goss was defeated in 1995 and joined accountant KPMG Australia as a senior China consultant, unsuccessfully stood for the seat of Griffith in 1996, and finally entered Parliament by winning the seat in the following election.
Rudd became foreign affairs spokesman in 2001, a job he held until yesterday's vote.
Who:
Aged 49.
Married with three children.
Nicknames Harry Potter, Heavy Kevvie, Knucklehead and the Pixie.
Earlier career:
Australian National University.
Diplomat for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Sweden and China. Speaks Mandarin.
Chief-of-staff to Queensland Labor Premier Wayne Goss.
China consultant for accounting firm KPMG Australia.
Parliament:
Won Griffith seat in Queensland in 1998 election.
Became Labor's foreign affairs spokesman in 2001.
Deputy:
Julia Gillard
Rudd said:
"Today the Australian Labor Party elected a new leadership team with a new leadership style for Australia's future, a new style of leadership."
"Kim is a good man ... who has given to this party and this movement and this country a hell of a lot over the last quarter of a century or more."
"Today has been a day of terrible tragedy for Kim and his family and our thoughts are with them."
"If you've been in this bloody business of politics for a while, you know how much of a backbone to your life your family is."