SYDNEY, Australia - Newly elected leader Kevin Rudd moved quickly Sunday to bring Australia into international talks on fighting global warming, and to head off potentially thorny relations with the United States and key Asian neighbors.
The emphatic victory for Rudd's Labor party swings Australia toward the political left after almost 12 years of conservative rule, and puts it at odds with key security ally Washington on two crucial policy issues -- Iraq and global warming.
The day after sweeping to power in general elections, Rudd went straight into work mode, holding meetings with government officials about the mechanics of signing the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Rudd, 50, also took phone calls from foreign leaders highly relevant to Australia.
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper phoned his congratulations Sunday from the Commonwealth summit in Kampala, Uganda.
A statement from Harper's office said the two affirmed the close relationship between Canada and Australia work together on such issues as climate change and the war in Afghanistan.
Britain, New Zealand and Indonesia noted that Rudd's election would boost international efforts to address climate change by ending ousted Prime Minister John Howard's refusal to sign the Kyoto pact.
Malaysia's leader said Rudd's plan to pull Australia's combat troops from Iraq would also improve the country's international standing, the Malaysian national news agency Bernama reported.
Rudd spoke by phone with U.S. President George W. Bush late Saturday. Rudd declined to give details of the conversation, but said he plans to visit Washington next year.
The leaders agreed during the call that they looked forward to working together, said White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat, also talked with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, accepting his invitation to attend a December UN meeting in Bali to map out the world's next steps against climate change.
Relations between Australia and Indonesia -- its giant northern neighbor -- are sometimes rocky, and could take a downturn due to a recent coroner's recommendation that former Indonesian soldiers face a war crimes investigation over the deaths of Australia-based journalists in East Timor in 1975.
On Sunday, at his first news conference, Rudd promised "action, and action now'' on climate change and nominated education, health and a high-speed Internet network as other top priorities of his government.
He said Labor lawmakers were due to meet on Thursday, and he hoped his Cabinet would be sworn in soon after that.
Rudd's election brought a sharp and mortifying end to the 11-year rule of Howard, Australia's second-longest serving leader.
Howard faces the further possible embarrassment of losing his own district seat in Parliament -- a fate suffered only once before by a sitting prime minister in 106 years of federal government.
Howard, who reshaped Australia's image abroad with his unwavering support for Bush's war on terrorism and in Iraq, failed to read the signs that voters had grown tired of his rule.
Aside from Iraq and Kyoto, the bulk of Australia's foreign, trade and economic policies are not expected to change much under Rudd.
"The Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward,'' Rudd said in a victory speech late Saturday. "To embrace the future and together as Australians to unite and write a new page in our nation's history.''
As Rudd basked in his victory, Howard's party fell into turmoil when his nominated successor, outgoing Treasurer Peter Costello, announced he would not accept the post of opposition leader.
The surprise announcement opens the possibility of a bruising fight for the leadership, with outgoing Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and former Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull likely candidates.
Rudd has pledged to govern as an "economic conservative,'' while pouring money into schools and universities, and to curtail sweeping workplace reforms Howard introduced.
Rudd attended a church service with his family the day after his win, and held a series of meetings with senior advisers and other officials about taking over the levers of government.
He told Howard, however, that his family should take "as long as they need'' to move out of the prime minister's official residences, including one with a stunning view of the Sydney Opera House.
Howard took his customary early morning walk along the Sydney Harbor foreshore, but did not comment on the election.
With 75 percent of the more than 13.5 million ballots counted, Labor had won more than 53 percent of the vote and a clear majority of at least 83 places in Parliament's 150-seat lower house, official Australian Electoral Commission results showed.
That was at least 23 seats more than Labor Party won at the last election in 2004 -- a huge swing in Australian politics.
Howard's Liberal-National coalition had 46.6 percent of the vote, and 47 parliamentary seats. Howard's district of Bennelong hung in the balance, with the final outcome to be decided by postal votes to be counted in the next few days.
Howard took the blame for the pounding his government took.
"I accept full responsibility for ... the coalition's defeat in this election campaign,'' he said in his concession speech.
He had campaigned on his economic management, arguing that Rudd could not be trusted to continue Australia's 17 years of unbroken economic growth, fueled by China's and India's hunger for Australian coal and other minerals.
