Australia's newly elected prime minister has made signing the Kyoto Protocol a top priority, according to his deputy Julia Gillard. Kevin Rudd is set to quickly fulfill his campaign promise to sign the climate change pact, which would allow Australia to have a more significant role at an upcoming international meeting on environmental issues in Bali, Indonesia. This move would also leave the US as the only Western country not to ratify the pact, despite being the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, with Australia being the worst polluter per capita. Rudd's proposal to gradually remove Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq may strain Australia's close relationship with the US. He received well-wishes from foreign leaders, including a phone call from US President George Bush, and plans to visit Washington next year. Rudd continued meetings with officials on Monday to prepare for assuming power after winning the recent elections. He will meet with newly elected Labor party members on Thursday to select his ministerial team, which is expected to be sworn in by Governor-General Michael Jefferey shortly after. The government is currently in caretaker mode. Rudd, who ended almost 12 years of conservative rule, has begun working on revising the country's labor laws as promised during his campaign. Uncertainty surrounds the leadership of the coalition that lost the election and is now the new opposition. Outgoing prime minister John Howard may lose his seat in parliament, and deputy Peter Costello unexpectedly announced that he does not want the job. Former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull and former health minister Tony Abbott have both expressed interest in becoming opposition leader. The process of counting ballots was still ongoing on Monday, with only the extent of Rudd's decisive victory to be confirmed and a few closely contested districts still to be determined. One of these districts is Bennelong in Sydney, which has been held by Howard for 33 years. This leaves Australia's second-longest serving leader in the position of possibly losing not just the government but also his seat in parliament. Howard admitted on Saturday that it is highly likely he will no longer represent Bennelong. Labor's Maxine McKew, a former television personality, is slightly ahead of Howard and the final outcome is expected to be determined by postal votes.