Australia's newly elected prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has made signing the Kyoto Protocol his top priority, according to his deputy, Julia Gillard. Rudd intends to fulfill a campaign promise by quickly signing the climate change pact, which will allow Australia to have a more significant role at an upcoming international meeting on environmental issues in Bali, Indonesia. This decision will also leave the US as the only Western country not to ratify the pact, despite being the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Australia, on the other hand, is the worst polluter per capita. Rudd's proposal to gradually bring back Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq could potentially strain Australia's close relationship with the US. Following messages of congratulations from foreign leaders, Rudd received a phone call from US President George Bush over the weekend. Although he did not disclose specifics of their conversation, Rudd mentioned plans to visit Washington in the upcoming year. Continuing his meetings with senior officials on Monday to transition into power after the recent elections, Rudd is scheduled to meet with newly elected Labor party members of parliament on Thursday to select his ministerial team. The team is then expected to be sworn in by Governor-General Michael Jefferey shortly after. The government is currently in caretaker mode. Officials have stated that Rudd, who won the election after almost 12 years of conservative rule, has already begun working on rewriting the country's labour laws as he promised during his campaign. There is uncertainty about who will lead the coalition that lost the election and is now the new opposition. Outgoing prime minister John Howard is likely to lose his seat in parliament, while his nominated successor Peter Costello surprised everyone on Sunday by announcing he did not want the job. Former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull and former health minister Tony Abbott have both declared their intention to compete for the position of opposition leader. The ballot counting was still in progress on Monday, with the extent of Rudd's decisive victory yet to be officially 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 puts Australia's second-longest serving leader in the position of potentially losing not just the government but also his own seat in parliament. Howard conceded on Saturday that he will likely no longer represent Bennelong. Labor's Maxine McKew, a former TV presenter, currently has a slight lead over Howard and the final outcome is expected to depend on postal votes.