The truth is I also feel very uncomfortable doing this from Washington and not in Australia, but I don't feel as if I have a choice, given the responsibilities I have before me over the days ahead, here in Washington, in London on the future of Somalia and piracy in the Indian Ocean, and in Tunisia on the future of Syria.
These are important challenges for the world, where a responsible Australian voice needs to be heard, a voice which I have sought to inject in my period as Foreign Minister on these core challenges, and under no circumstances do I want Australia's international reputation brought into disrepute because of this ongoing saga.
Therefore Ambassador Beazley will discharge my functions here on my behalf in Washington, tomorrow, and the permanent Secretary of my department, Dennis Richardson, will represent me in London and in Tunisia.
I will return home to Brisbane tomorrow, arriving back there on Friday morning.
Over the days ahead I will be consulting openly and honestly with my family, with my community and my parliamentary colleagues, taking their counsel on what I should do next, and what my next step should be.
I will then make a full statement to the Australian people on my future, before Parliament resumes next Monday.
I deeply believe that if the Australian Labor Party, a party of which I have been a proud member for more than 30 years, is to have the best future for our nation, then it must change fundamentally its culture and to end the power of faceless men.
Australia must be governed by the people, not by the factions.
But I can promise you this, there is no way - no way - that I will ever be party to a stealth attack on a sitting prime minister elected by the people.
We all know that what happened then was wrong, and it must never happen again.
I would like to thank very much, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Their Secretary, Dennis Richardson, Australia's former ambassador here in Washington, is a first class Australian diplomat and through him I would thank the department's executive and all the deputy secretaries I've worked with day after day, week after week, in advancing Australia's interests around the world.
These are good people, and all the Ambassadors and High Commissioners, who proudly stand there every day, in Australia's name, are doing good things for our interests and expressing our values right across the world, and I publicly acknowledge them with heartfelt thanks.
I would also like to thank my exceptionally loyal and hardworking staff, led by my chief of staff, Philip Green, and his deputy, Kate Sieper.
These are a great team, phenomenally loyal and hardworking, and together we have done good things.
In my letter of resignation to the Prime Minister, I have asked her to give effect to my resignation 48 hours after my return to Australia, so that I can affect the best transition for my staff as possible under these circumstances.
I'd think you would understand, there's a human dimension to all this.
Together with the foreign policy team, the department, my office and other great public servants responsible for foreign policy in the Australian public service, I'm proud of our achievements.
I'm proud of the fact that we built a new institution in Asia, which, for the first time in the history of Asia, brings the United States, China, Japan, India, Australia, and all the other countries in the region, around a single table, able to discuss and negotiate a peaceful security future for Australia.
