Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd had a propensity to commit diplomatic faux pas during his time as prime minister.

This according to reports by Fairfax Media, which claimed that US cables published by WikiLeaks painted Rudd as a domineering micro-manager of government functions, with a tendency of dispensing unilateral foreign policy moves that stunned Australia's regional neighbours.

Rudd, according to then US ambassador to Australia Robert McCallum, was largely criticised by Australian government functionaries and media circles for his seeming undiplomatic behaviour and disengaging approach as the country's prime minister.

McCallum was quoted by the report as describing the Australian leader as a control freak with an oversized confidence, which the US ambassador surmised may be largely due to his considerable background in the country's foreign affairs dealings.

Rudd, however, failed to impress McCallum and despite the former prime minister's obvious intellect and sterling credentials, the US embassy had concluded that "his performance so far, demonstrates that he does not have the stuff or the experience to do the job properly."

The cable leaks criticised Rudd's decisions to establish a regional coordinating body in Asia-Pacific region and a nuclear disarmament omission without issuing due advisory to the diplomatic corps.

In a 2008 assessment report, leaked US cables showed that McCallum described Rudd as an eager Australian leader wanting to be seen as a key global policymaker yet he scored the former prime minister's numerous missteps, which he said was mostly due to "his propensity to make snap announcements without consulting other countries or within the Australian government."

However, when reached for his reaction on the report, Rudd simply dismissed the negative insinuations of the leaked documents about him, emphasising instead that much worst accounts have been written about him in the past and more attacks could be forthcoming but he stressed that it would not affect him at all.

Also, the US State Department quickly moved to hose down the damaging effects of the leaked US cables, with US State Secretary Hillary Clinton issuing an assurance that she values the leadership exemplified by Rudd in deepening the relation of the United States and Australia.

Clinton stressed too that her personal workings with Rudd proved indispensable in dealing with global issues that the US and Australia had collectively encountered.