Australia's former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has asked the Australian government to nominate him for the role of United Nations Secretary-General, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed. 
Bishop said the cabinet will now have to consider whether to support Rudd’s candidacy for the UN's top job. 
The Labor opposition has lent its support to Rudd, despite his tumultuous history of being toppled by the party in June 2010, going on to serve as foreign affairs minister and then returning as prime minister in June 2013 before losing the September 2013 election. 
Bishop told Sky News on Monday that Rudd had requested that the Australian government nominate him for the role. 
Bishop said that she would "put the matter forward" but did not say whether she supported his candidacy or whether he was likely to win support in cabinet. 
The UN secretary general role, occupied by Ban Ki-moon, will become vacant when his term expires at the end of this year. 
As part of the process, each UN member state presents their candidates to the president of the general assembly and security council. 
A total of 10 candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring, including director-general of Unesco, Irina Bokova, former New Zealand prime minister and UN development program administrator, Helen Clark, and the former UN climate change commissioner, Christiana Figueres. 
The other confirmed candidates are: Vesna Pusic (Croatia), Antonio Guterres (Portugal), Susana Malcorra (Argentina), Vuk Jeremic (Serbia), Natalia Gherman (Moldova), Danilo Turk (Slovenia), Igor Luksic (Montenegro) and Irina Bokova (Bulgaria).

Source: QNA