And, at a speech in Perth last night, he pointed to the recent Gippsland by-election as proof the public is starting to doubt the credibility of the Rudd government.

"I think that two things have begun to implant themselves in the minds of the Australian people. The first is the absolutely dishonest and pathetic attempt by (Labor) that somehow they (inherited) an economic mess. They have no shame," Mr Howard said.

"How members of a political party that left us with the enormous problems we inherited should dare to do that ...

"(The second is) the new Prime Minister doesn't seem to have a theme. Politics is about conviction. Politics is not just about the joy of being in government.

"But you seem to get the impression that my successor is more interested in the process of government than the opportunity of leadership that government provides."

Mr Howard said that while the Liberals had been shut out of every state and federal government, they should not forget their roots.

"However despairing we may feel politically, however much we may think the political tide has turned against us, we must always remember our party is almost overwhelmingly the party of the individual."

In a rare Australian public appearance, and even rarer commentary on the present state of politics, Mr Howard also lashed out at the South African government.

He told the audience that the Gippsland by-election, held at the end of June, had echoes of the Whitlam era.

Labor suffered a swing against it of 6.42 per cent, as Darren Chester easily retained the provincial Victorian seat for the Nationals.

Philip Ruddock achieved a 9 per cent swing against the incumbent Labor government when winning a by-election for the NSW seat of Parramatta in 1973, just a year after Gough Whitlam ended two decades of Liberal rule. Labor was swept from power just two years later.

Mr Howard said he would "do everything I can" to help federal opposition leader Brendan Nelson and deputy Julie Bishop, but it would be in a "quiet and unobtrusive way".

Meanwhile, Mr Howard savaged southern African nations, and particularly South Africa, for their handling of the Zimbabwe crisis.

He said that action should have been taken five years ago, pointing to a Commonwelath Heads of Government meeting in 2003, when Australia, South Africa and Nigeria were tasked with resolving the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.

"It was clear to me then ... that there was no interest within the ranks of the leadership in South Africa to bring pressure on Mugabe. If the requisite pressure had been placed ... by South Africa in particular we would not have seen the disaster that has unfolded over the last (five) years."

Mr Howard said rather than holding "starry eyed" views about international organisations, Australia had realised that "if you want to get anything done in the world" it had to do so with like-minded liberal democratic nations.