CANBERRA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Former Australian ambassador to the United States, Kim Beazley believes the viability of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's bid to become United Nations (UN) secretary-general was questionable, and said circumstances within the UN would count against the former Labor leader.
Beazley, who was federal Labor boss before Rudd took over in 2007, said a lot of things would have to "fall into place" for Rudd -- a male candidate from the Asia-Pacific region -- to be properly considered, as the incumbent Ban Ki-moon was also a male from the area.
"In the same way there's never been a woman, there's never been an eastern European in the position," Beazley told News Corp on Friday.
"I don't know if it would be a sensible thing to stand against that and force through a candidate and not reflect all those things."
"This doesn't go to anything to do with Kevin Rudd's capacity -- it just goes to the times and the times would make it a difficult one to (further) his candidacy."
The Turnbull government is yet to endorse Rudd's bid, a requirement for Rudd to be in the running, while there had previously been doubts about a Liberal-National government supporting the bid of a former Labor politician.
Beazley said the government could not "half-heartedly" endorse Rudd as only fierce support would get him over the line.
Beazley's comments come just days after the country's former ambassador to the UN, Richard Woolcott urged the government to get behind an Australian bid.
The government confirmed it had received a request from Rudd last week; it is yet to comment on whether or not Prime Minister Turnbull will support the bid.
Current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is set to step down later this year for the next candidate to take office on Jan. 1, 2017.
