Rudd, 49, toppled Kim Beazley by 49 votes to 39 in a party room ballot of ALP, Australia's largest opposition party.

The ballot was held as Beazley, a 25-year parliamentary veteran who was defeated by Prime Minister John Howard in the elections in1998 and 2001, faces pressure and concerns that he can not defeat Howard in the general election next year.

At his first news conference as federal opposition leader soon after his election, Rudd promised a new style of leadership for Labor.

"Today the Australian Labor Party elected a new leadership team with a new leadership style for Australia's future, a new style of leadership," he told reporters.

Rudd singled out Australia's dwindling manufacturing industry as an area of interest to a possible future government under his leadership.

He vowed to combat the government's new industrial relations laws, which the opposition and the unions claim undermine the workers' rights.

He described the climate change as a fork in the road, vowing to tackle the problem which the Howard government is believed to have failed to deal with properly.

On foreign relations, Rudd said he intends to maintain a strong alliance with both the United States and China, adding he will speak more widely on foreign policy in subsequent press conferences.

"I am rock solid on the alliance with the United States. I have never seen that as being mutually exclusive of a strong relationship with the People's Republic of China," said Rudd.

"I have been in and out of both countries more years than I care to remember, and let me tell, you'll see strong emphasis from us on both of those relationships," he said.

Beazley urged ALP caucus to get in behind Rudd and support his leadership, describing Rudd as "a very able man, a very intelligent man with a very wide base of knowledge and a determination to do the right thing for the Australian people."

Analysts said Howard will face a tough fight against the ALP's new leadership team of Rudd and Julia Gillard, who was elected the deputy leader.