Kevin Rudd has urged Malcolm Turnbull to abolish foreign political donations and described the prime minister as "wilting" to conservative forces in the Liberal party when he refused to support Mr Rudd for the United Nations' top job.
The former Labor prime minister, famous for his eagerness to engage with China, criticised the Liberal party for voting down his attempts to outlaw foreign donations to political parties while in power in 2008.
"We'd be having none of the debates today about foreign influence on Australian political parties if that legislation had been passed by the Tories," he told a crowd at the Sydney Writers Festival on Monday.
The talk came ahead of the release of Mr Rudd's autobiography, Not for the faint-hearted, but focused largely on his infamous time in politics.
Mr Rudd said he recalled speaking with Mr Turnbull to secure a nomination for the UN High Commissioner.
But, after the Turnbull government scraped into power in 2016, "Malcolm felt the hot breath" of his party's conservative hardliners and the support evaporated, Mr Rudd said.
"He just wilted like jelly in the midday sun."
