By Daniel Flitton
KEVIN Rudd gatecrashed the special ABC television broadcast with Hillary Clinton on the weekend, demanding a place to share the limelight with the US Secretary of State.
Mr Rudd's last-minute decision to attend the town-hall-style meeting sent organisers at the ABC, the Foreign Affairs Department and US embassy into a spin hours before the event was recorded.
Mr Rudd was not initially scheduled to be among the VIP guests, who included Australia's ambassador in Washington, Kim Beazley, businessman Hugh Morgan, Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis and US ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich.
But after a dinner with Mrs Clinton on Saturday night, Mr Rudd insisted he attend.
Hillary Clinton and Kevin Rudd.
An Australian official familiar with the event said Mr Rudd had stridently demanded plans be changed to include him. ''The behaviour was disgusting and he deserves to be called on it,'' the official told The Age.
There was also confusion over whether Mr Rudd was asking to be seated on stage alongside Mrs Clinton and ABC host Leigh Sales for the broadcast.
This threatened to undo careful planning for the recording in front of an audience of about 450 in a Melbourne University lecture theatre.
But Mr Rudd has denied he or his staff asked for a seat on stage.''No, not at all. I didn't ask to go on the stage at all,'' he told the 7.30 Report.
''I said to Hillary, 'Oh, you're going to the university tomorrow? That's terrific. I know the vice-chancellor. I'd like to come along and have a look. That's terrific.' ''
Mrs Clinton has done other televised conversations with young audiences around the region, but never sharing the stage with a foreign minister. Mr Rudd described as a ''bit of mischief'' suggestions he sought a place on stage.
After a hectic two days of meetings - during which Mrs Clinton repeatedly praised her Australian counterpart for his expert knowledge of foreign affairs - Mr Rudd has fallen ill with what his spokeswoman called a respiratory infection and has pulled out of attending a regional summit in Japan.