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 Plibersek and Stephen Smith were more circumspect, but supported Gillard. Labor Senator Doug Cameron and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen came out in support of Rudd and called on their colleagues to show him respect. Labor Ministers Robert McClelland and Martin Ferguson also declared for Rudd, saying Gillard could not win against Tony Abbott. In an emotional address, Minister Anthony Albanese announced that he had offered his resignation as Leader of the House of Representatives and would be supporting Rudd because he believed the manner in which he had been replaced in 2010 was wrong. Prime Minister Gillard refused to accept