Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has been blamed for causing trouble within the Australian Labor Party, with one former ally strongly suggesting that the former prime minister should either shut up or move out.

"If somebody, anybody, is not a happy little vegemite, they ought to go find something else to do," Labor backbencher Bernie Ripoll told ABC on Tuesday as he expressed his disgust at the alleged political manoeuvrings coming from Rudd's camp.

Rudd's supporters' actions, Ripoll said, are undermining the ALP leadership, stressing too that "I've had enough of this and I know other caucus members have had enough of this."

The Labor power-broker also reminded Rudd that challenging Prime Minister Julia Gillard at this time will only lead to disappointments for him as "you don't have the support, you don't have the numbers."

Speculations of a likely challenge coming from Rudd heightened over the weekend as a YouTube video of him emerged, revealing a side of him rarely seen by most Australians.

Backers of Gillard, however, declared that what was seen was the true Rudd.

Such attitude, they added, were part of the reasons he was ousted as prime minister in 2010, an event that catapulted Gillard to the top post.

But Rudd has insisted that he is a changed man and wondered aloud, while on his out of the country for official functions abroad, why the short clip came out at a time that the poll numbers were favouring his return as prime minister.

His supporters suggested that the video could be accessed only by highly placed people in the government, indirectly pointing to Gillard's quarters as responsible for leaking the film, which should have been destroyed to begin with.

Yet Gillard is adamant that she nothing to do with the video and lamented that all the leadership speculations were distracting the government.

Meanwhile, senior Labor leaders have started expressing their support for Gillard, bolstering talk that the ALP will be dealing with the question soon, presumably when Rudd returns from his overseas trips.

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten agreed with Gillard that Rudd's impending return serves as a distraction for the Labor-led government though he acknowledged that the former prime minister was doing great at his current post in the Foreign Ministry.

However, Shorten said his vote would go for Gillard, adding that she enjoys "the very clear majority of Government MPs."

"For the same reasons I supported her in June 2010 and now, she is the best person for the job ... she is the person who is strong. She's getting on with business," Shorten told ABC.

And Shorten's position was supported by Green leader Bob Brown, who affirmed that the prime minister "got the backing of the majority of her party and she needs to assert that."

Brown added that once Gillard starts flexing her muscle then all the leadership questions hounding her would be quashed as early as next week.

Also, backers of Gillard warned that any untimely change of Labor leadership could spell disaster for the ruling party, an idea reportedly haunting Rudd too.

Rudd allegedly intimated to Independent MP Andrew Wilkie that in the event he would reclaim his old job, he wants to run a full term, betraying some form of fears that his return could further weaken the ALP.

Polls have been indicating that Labor will be soundly defeated by the Coalition if elections were held shortly, further eroding the government hold of the ALP, which had to coalesce with independent MPs to remain in power.

Labor insiders have hinted that the same set-up cannot be assured under a Rudd-led ALP.