Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull denies he has bowed to the petty and provincial whims of conservatives in his cabinet by refusing to nominate his predecessor former PM Kevin Rudd for the role of Secretary-general of the United Nations.

"There is a fundamental threshold point, and it is this:  Does the government believe, do we believe, do I as prime minister believe that Mr. Rudd is well suited for that role?  My considered judgment is that he is not," the PM told reporters.  Turnbull says he won't publicly disclose his reasons, but insisted, "This decision has got nothing to do with Mr. Rudd's party, nothing at all." 

Without the nomination of his own country, this pretty much stops cold Kevin Rudd's candidacy for the gig. 

Although Foreign Minister Julie Bishop thought well of the idea of nominating Mr. Rudd for the UN, it was the Tory boys' club - Treasurer Scott Morrison, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton - who swayed Turnbull to reject the idea.  Such a public rejection of Ms. Bishop's judgement seems particularly odd, considering the debt that Mr. Turnbull owes her for the support she gave him that allowed him to be PM in the first place.  But hey, what do I know.  Turnbull denied sticking a shank in Mr. Rudd's belly was done to placate the right wingers.

Labor said before the decision was announced that if Turnbull failed to nominate Rudd, it would be a demonstration of the Liberals putting their "pettiness" above the national interest.

"We have had senior cabinet ministers out trying to position the prime minister and undermine the foreign minister.  We've got cabinet government which is apparently unable to make a decision, they've squibbed it," said Penny Wong, Labor's newly appointed spokeswoman for foreign affairs.  "This is really a very poor and bizarre decision making process," she added.