Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come under sustained attack this week over her handling of the asylum seeker issue and her plans for a regional processing centre.

Ms Gillard's consultations with East Timor have been fiercely criticised with the Opposition claiming amateurs are running the Australian Government.

While Kevin Rudd was expert in international diplomacy, Ms Gillard's foray into foreign affairs has not been a smooth one.

The Opposition has accused the Government of incompetence and deception over plans for a regional processing centre for asylum seekers.

But the Government has also drawn criticism from an unlikely source - Paul Howes from the Australian Workers Union on Sky News.

"I am not happy with the Government's response to this. I'm not happy with what the Coalition's doing on this. I accept that you know, we have largely lost the debate," he said.

Michael Wesley is an expert in international affairs and the executive director of the Lowy Institute.

Mr Wesley says in retrospect, Ms Gillard should not have revealed that East Timor was being considered as a place to house asylum seekers.

"I don't think she's bungled it but in some ways it would have been more useful to have been closer to agreement than she was if she was to name the country itself," he said.

"I have no doubt that there has been more than a conversation between the Prime Minister and Jose Ramos-Horta.

"I am sure there have been all sorts of back channel conversations between Australia and East Timor."

Crucial groundwork

While the Government has stressed that it is in dialogue with East Timor, Dr Wesley says it is clear the Government has not done crucial groundwork.

"Diplomacy of this sort works when it's preceded by months and months and months careful negotiation," he said.

"Now obviously the Prime Minister didn't have that sort of time. She wanted to come out and make a statement on this issue that seems to be showing up in the polls as fairly damaging to the Government.

"So she wanted to come out and say something strong on this. She'd only been in the job a few weeks and obviously there hadn't been the chance to do that sort of careful preparation."

But Dr Wesley says this week's events are unlikely to be a sign of things to come.

"I don't think we can judge Prime Minister Gillard on this particular episode," he said.

"I think Julia Gillard is in kind with a very long line of prime ministers. People like Malcom Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard really had no experience of foreign affairs when they became Prime Minister.

"I think in a lot of ways Kevin Rudd was a rarity. He will stand out as a rarity in Australian political history. In a prime minister with significant diplomatic experience and background on coming to office.

"I think Julia Gillard is much more in the mould of prime ministers who have not really focused on foreign affairs before they have reached office but then become quite adept at it once they get a feel for it in office."