Kevin Rudd says his former rival, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, has made a good start in the nation's top political job - but he has warned him to watch out for the "nut jobs" in his own party.
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And Mr Rudd, who has been based in the US for much of the two and a bit years since he was defeated by Tony Abbott, has defended his government's asylum seeker policies.
The former prime minister was recently appointed chair of the global sanitation and water partnership Sanitation and Water for All (SWA), again stoking talk that he is quietly campaigning for the job of United Nations secretary-general, despite his denials.
But in a powder-puff interview with the Ten Network's The Project, Mr Rudd steered clear of that question and joked that he was "maintaining this 12,000 mile principle, which is while I'm out of politics, I should be out of sight as well".
While prime minister, Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull were fierce political rivals and clashed over the utegate scandal, the design of a $40 billion stimulus package and the design of an emission trading scheme - which ultimately saw Mr Turnbull removed by the conservative wing of his own party.
On Tuesday night, though, Mr Rudd said that "objectively speaking, you have to say he [Mr Turnbull] has had a good start".
"Malcolm has his challenges. He has to deal with the lunar right of his party and there are some serious nut jobs there, we all know that," he said.
"Just as, you know, when I was prime minister and Bill [Shorten] today has to deal with factional thugs from certain trade unions who make life difficult. We all have our problems."
Mr Rudd said he had not been in contact with Mr Abbott since he was deposed as prime minister, but that he had sympathised with him personally after he lost the Liberal leadership.
He said it was important Australia had "broad shoulders" when faced with criticism of controversial offshore detention policies, such as the barrage of criticism heaped on Australia at a UN human rights forum this week.
"If you look at the nature of the criticisms, they go to mandatory detention, including mandatory detention of children. I do not support that," he said.
Mr Rudd defended the deal he struck to process asylum seekers with Papua New Guinea as "the only rational approach given our geographical circumstances in the world, but with this big caveat - when a boat comes to Australia, you shouldn't be in the business of turning it back on the high seas".
Before being elected in 2007, Mr Rudd indicated a willingness to perform turn backs but did not do so in government and later warned that, if performed under an Abbott government, it could lead to confrontation with Indonesia.
