Former prime minister Julia Gillard has weighed into the leadership crisis engulfing the federal coalition, joking she doesn't blame Australians if they want to move to New Zealand.
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She was asked about the tussle for leadership between embattled PM Malcolm Turnbull and challenger Peter Dutton, while speaking at Melbourne's RMIT University on Thursday.
"I can understand why people would want to go and live in New Zealand given the leadership of the current prime minister (Malcolm Turnbull)," she jokingly told the crowd.
Ms Gillard - who rolled then-Labor PM Kevin Rudd in 2010 before he booted her from office ahead of the 2013 federal election - framed the country's revolving leadership door as part of a global political fracturing, including of the political right.
Addressing the ongoing debate around energy and climate policy, Ms Gillard said leaders could not "throw your hands up when it gets tough".
"That's where politics breaks down and doesn't deliver results," she said.
