By Daniel Flitton
KEVIN RUDD'S once close relationship with the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has disintegrated so badly that Foreign Affairs insiders doubt the cash-strapped department can win any extra funds in the budget.
The coup that toppled Mr Rudd as prime minister last year has soured ties between the men, who attended the same Nambour high school and later worked for Labor in Queensland.
Government sources said the two had barely spoken in the six months since Julia Gillard replaced Mr Rudd as Prime Minister and made Mr Swan her deputy.
Mr Swan was Treasurer under Mr Rudd and helped devise the mining tax that many consider instrumental in his downfall.
Foreign Affairs officials are bracing for a terrible budget as plans are drawn to meet Labor's promise to slash $45.5 million from the department - 20 overseas officers are expected to be recalled and 24 Canberra positions scrapped.
This follows a $124 million cut to the foreign service when Mr Rudd was prime minister, which surprised many given his past diplomatic career and close interest in foreign policy.
A 2009 report by the Lowy Institute, an international affairs think tank, found the number of Australian diplomats stationed abroad had shrunk 25 per cent since the Howard government was elected in 1996.
Mr Rudd conceded in November that this ''underinvestment of a decade'' had left Australia with the smallest diplomatic presence of all countries in the Group of 20, with embassies in less than half of the world capitals.
''We must properly resource this great Australian foreign service for the great demands that will be placed on it for the future,'' he said.
But Foreign Affairs and Labor insiders doubt Mr Rudd will win resources for the department given the government's intent to rein in spending - and his strained relationship with Mr Swan.
One Labor source said when Mr Rudd was leader he and Mr Swan were like brothers-in-arms. ''Wayne was one of the few people who could change Kevin's mind,'' the source said. But the two have not spoken since the coup - ''not one word''.
As Foreign Minister, Mr Rudd will oversee an increase in the overseas aid program - the $4.2 billion spent each year is expected to be doubled by 2015.
Mr Swan was returning from the US yesterday and was unavailable for comment. Mr Rudd's spokeswoman declined to comment on when he last spoke with Mr Swan.
''The Foreign Minister's relationship with the Treasurer is professional and productive,'' she said. ''The minister works in the national interest to strengthen Australia's security; enhance Australia's prosperity; and help the million or so Australians overseas, and he is supported in that work by his cabinet colleagues.''