New PM 'won't face gender bias'

Julia Gillard will be judged on her performance and not for being a woman, one of the country's longest-serving Prime Ministers says.

The new Labor leader will be judged by the public in the same way as Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, former PM John Howard says.

"She has come to the job, she is coincidentally a woman, I'm sure she doesn't want to be judged just on the fact that she is a woman and she won't be," Mr Howard told Sky News on Thursday.

Gillard 'judged on performance'

"The Australian public will mark her according to her performance and that is how the Australian public should.

"She will be judged as a person on how she performs."

Ms Gillard had a high level of responsibility for the policy failures of the Labor government led by her predecessor Kevin Rudd, Mr Howard said.

"She can't escape responsibility for all of the policies of the Rudd government, where the concentration of power, even more so than in my government, was in a cabal of four people in which she was the number two," he said.

Abbott 'triggered Rudd's downfall'

While Mr Rudd was deposed as Labor leader for personality reasons, it was Opposition Leader Tony Abbott who triggered Mr Rudd's fall.

"He (Tony Abbott) spooked Kevin Rudd on emissions trading, and I think the decision that did Mr Rudd the most damage was the ETS (emissions trading scheme) decision," Mr Howard said.

"I think Tony Abbott has done a fantastic job as opposition leader."

'No hard feelings'

Mr Howard admitted he may be an unreliable witness on Mr Rudd, who swept him from power in 2007, but he wished his former adversary well.

"I bear no personal animosity towards Mr Rudd," he said.

"I have no ill will towards him, I wish him good health and his family happiness."

The focus should now turn to the contest between Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott, the former prime minister said.