Julie Bishop declines SA governor role

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has reportedly turned down an offer to become the next South Australian governor.

Ms Bishop, who was born in Adelaide, had been in talks with SA Premier Steven Marshall over possibly replacing current Governor Hieu Van Le later this year, The Australian newspaper reported on Thursday.

It said she declined Mr Marshall's informal offer.

In a statement, the SA government praised both Ms Bishop and Governor Van Le, without commenting directly on his possible replacement.

"There's no doubt Julie Bishop is a great South Australian," the statement said.

"But his excellency, the Honourable Hieu Van Le is doing a fantastic job in this important and prestigious role and is well respected across our state and by this government."

Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd has hit out at "baloney" suggestions that Queensland was solely responsible for Labor's federal election loss.

But the former prime minister and ex-Queensland MP also offered some insight into what Labor must do to improve its dismal standing in the Sunshine State.

Mr Rudd said at a national level, Labor needed to focus on two fundamental propositions in order to win government.

One was fairness for working families and aspirational Australians, and the other was carving out a future for the country and the community.

Labor holds just six out of 30 federal seats in Queensland, after losing the Townsville-based seat of Herbert and the outer-Brisbane seat of Longman at the election.

But Mr Rudd dismissed claims Queensland was hostile towards Labor, ridiculing tongue-in-cheek suggestions Australia should seek a "Quexit" as "a whole load of baloney".

He pointed out Queensland has had a Labor state government for 25 of the past 30 years.

"So the idea that this place is unwelcoming of centre-left progressive governments is a nonsense," Mr Rudd told the ABC's 730 program.

"But I think you have got to get a few things basically right up here."

The former Labor prime minister said people needed to understand Queensland was a big, deeply decentralised state where the role of government was important.