Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Monday that former Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is free to comment on anything and anytime, dismissing suggestions that the ruling party was imposing on its erstwhile leader to shun media interviews.

"Kevin Rudd will make his own decisions about what media engagements he has," Ms Gillard said as she clarified reports that the former prime minister was under orders by the Labor leadership to keep his silence.

Mr Rudd was defeated by his former deputy in Labor's leadership spill in February, which demoted him to the backbench.

But he recently attracted media attention anew as reporters sought for his comments on suggestions that Labor may turn to him in order to avoid a likely electoral annihilation on the scheduled general elections next year.

National surveys revealed that Ms Gillard and Labor will be easily trounced by the Coalition headlined by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

The same surveys, however, also indicated that Australians preferred Mr Rudd over Mr Abbott or Ms Gillard, likely crediting him for adeptly handling the domestic economy when he was the prime minister back in 2007.

The highlight of his rule, analysts said, was the good showing of the Australian economy during the worst period of the global financial crisis in 2008, which left many major economies in virtual tatters while Australia emerged largely unscathed.

Yet according to the Australian Associated Press (AAP), Mr Rudd has become evasive in granting interviews lately, mostly reasoning that "he was not allowed," to speak out at this time.

In an interview with ABC, Ms Gillard said there was no stopping for Mr Rudd to talk and he "is able to speak to the media should he choose to do so."

It was Mr Rudd's call should he elects to decline any media interview, the prime minister said.

Ms Gillard is currently fighting off the likelihood of following the way of Mr Rudd, who in June 2010 was booted out of the prime minister post by the Labor caucus following the controversies created by his proposed resources super profits tax (RSPT).

The tax proposal, experts said, ate away Mr Rudd's popularity among the electorates and prompted the Labor leadership to replace him with Ms Gillard.

Fast-forward, Ms Gillard now faces flagging approval from the Australian public, a trend that she claimed will be reversed by future government gains, which would come in the form of a budget surplus that she vowed will be realised in 2013.

Labor's upcoming tax programmes are also poised to deliver more benefits to the general public, Ms Gillard said, which is the government's way of spreading the riches being generated by the country's ongoing mining boom.

But Mr Abbott begs to disagree as he reminded Ms Gillard that the election next year will become a repeat of what transpired in Queensland earlier this, where LNP's Campbell Newman defeated former Premier Anna Bligh via landslide.

"I think the LNP has obviously triumphed magnificently in the recent state election and I think we can do even better in the next federal election," the Liberal leader was reported by The Courier-Mail was saying on Monday.

"We are ready for an election and we think the Australian people are yearning for an election," Mr Abbott said, adding that Labor will be out of government by next year.