Former prime minister Kevin Rudd is blaming the "monstrous intrusion" of domestic politics for the government's decision to drop its support of his bid to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Rudd told The Australian (which somehow found the space to run the story despite the need to publish disgustingly racist cartoons, but that's another issue) that Foreign Minister Julie Bishop strongly encouraged him to  pursue the nomination in good faith, only to have the Turnbull cabinet's provincial right-wing have that good faith "dishonored and trust broken".  Last week, Rudd produced documentation showing that PM Turnbull actually supported his bid until caving in to the right-wingers in a 1 May phone call telling Rudd he wouldn't get the support for which he earnestly campaigned.

Mr. Rudd has nothing but good things to say about Ms. Bishop; his issue is with Turnbull, who he thinks has lost some international standing over his handling of the situation:  "I think, though, in the counsels of the world, that will reflect poorly on him," he said.  "I'm no perfect candidate.  I've got skills, I've got background, I've got experience.  So do a lot of other candidates," he continued.  "But what the international community finds difficult to understand is when you have such a monstrous intrusion of domestic politics so as to prevent one of your own from actually competing on the international stage."

Labor leader Bill Shorten agrees:  "If Mr. Turnbull can do a deal with someone and then has to come back and say sorry, I couldn't convince all my right-wing sort of minders to do it, well what sort of stability does that promise us on all the other big issues in Australia?"