Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of Australia teaching or researching in the fields of Australian politics or history" to place Australia's prime ministers in five categories; 40 responded. Five points were awarded to prime ministers judged "outstanding", four for those considered "good", three for "average", two for "below average", and one for "failure". The three caretaker prime ministers were excluded from consideration, as was the serving prime minister, Julia Gillard. John Curtin received the highest average rating, 4.78, and he was the only prime minister who no respondents gave a rating lower than "good". It is possible to compare the highest approval ratings achieved by Prime Ministers
Gillard Government the pair remained strained, and Rudd was replaced as Foreign Minister in February 2012 following his failed bid for the leadership of the Labor Party. Former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr was selected to join the Senate in place of the retiring Mark Arbib and joined Cabinet as the new Minister for Foreign Affairs. During her first major international tour as Prime Minister, Julia Gillard told ABC TV's "": For his part, Kevin Rudd was an active Foreign Affairs Minister. Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution and resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Rudd called for "constitutional reform and a