Talks of brewing restiveness within members of the Australian Labor Party have sprouted in the immediate aftermath of the cabinet reshuffle implemented earlier this week by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, reports said.

According to The Australian, six ALP ministers have made known their disapproval of Ms Gillard's recent moves that they deem were detrimental to the interest of the ruling party.

Among the gripes that floated, the paper said, was the Prime Minister's treatment of her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, who she practically snubbed during the recently concluded ALP national conference.

In opening the ALP gathering, Ms Gillard raised eyebrows when she failed to mention Rudd's contribution to the party, sparking a howl of silent protests among party members supportive of the former Prime Minister.

The ill-feelings were further compounded by the latest cabinet revamp that saw leading Labor figures such as Robert McClelland, Chris Evans, Peter Garrett and Kim Carr being eased out of Ms Gillard's inner circle.

The Prime Minister announced on Monday her second portfolio adjustment that stripped McClelland of the Attorney-General post to make way for Nicola Roxon while Carr was reappointed to a lesser-known post that effectively took away his cabinet rank, which observers said pushed him out of Ms Gillard's reach.

With the prevailing sentiments now hounding the Labor leader, speculations are ripe that in the event of leadership struggle within the ALP, Ms Gillard will easily lose her position to Rudd, the same man that she deposed last year with the sufficient collaboration of Bill Shorten and Mark Arbib - two figures that she rewarded this week with cabinet positions.

The Australian said that Carr also played a prominent role in the ascension of Ms Gillard last year to the top post, making her demotion a stunning development for the ALP, or at least to the faction of the party loyal to the current Prime Minister.

However, ardent supporters of Ms Gillard defended her actions and stressed that the cabinet reconfiguration was set in motion in order to maximise the ALP resources going into next year and well through the election scheduled on 2013.

On Wednesday, Ms Gillard had argued that the repositioning within her official family allowed for the best and the brightest to serve the government and any form of sacking that she had made proved difficult choices for her to make.

"It's (the cabinet reshuffle) something that has to be done from time to time and I think it's a very difficult thing to do, to make decisions, to make arrangements ... and this is determined by the Prime Minister," Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor was reported by The Australian as saying in defending Ms Gillard.

"But I think in the main this has been a very good change. It freshens up the government and provides a new lease of life to go forward with some very important policies into the New Year," O'Connor stressed.