Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says former Victorian premier Steve Bracks' talents should be harnessed for the good of Australia as consul-general in New York.
Labor appointed Mr Bracks to the plum diplomatic posting in May, and he's due to begin within weeks.
But the coalition has reportedly complained to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about the posting, hinting it may not allow Mr Bracks to assume the role if it wins the election.
Mr Rudd says that would be odd.
"We should be a nation of all the talents," the prime minister told ABC radio on Wednesday.
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"When a person exits political life, let's use them and harness them for the broader good.
"I would have thought Steve Bracks falls into that category."
Mr Rudd said Mr Bracks, Victorian Labor premier from 1999 to 2007, was a good man.
He pointed out that as prime minister he had appointed former coalition deputy prime minister Tim Fischer to the Holy See, and former coalition opposition leader Brendan Nelson to the European Union and NATO.
Mr Rudd said the Bracks issue was another example of arrogance creeping into the coalition camp.
"(They) seem to believe they have this election in the bag without actually asking the Australian people first," he said.
Dr Nelson, who is now director of the Australian War Memorial, said there was a place for good political appointments.
All governments needed to recognise candidates who had something to offer no matter what side of politics they came from.
"Australians, irrespective of their politics, like that," Dr Nelson told AAP in Canberra.
"The Australian taxpayers invest a lot in people who get to the most senior ends of public life.
"And if they can continue to serve the country in some appropriate way and use that knowledge, skills and experience they have acquired, then that is in our national interest."
