Prime Minister Julia Gillard lacks empathy and is "wooden" because she has chosen not to have children, former Labor leader Mark Latham has claimed.

Talking to Radio National's Fran Kelly this morning, Mr Latham said Ms Gillard had been "wooden" in her response to the Queensland floods because she chose a career over children.

And he said people who decide against raising a family have less empathy and less love in their lives.

"To choose a career ahead of the opportunity of having children? I think having children is the great loving experience of any lifetime and by definition, you haven't got as much love in your life if you make that particular choice," he said.

"I think you could look at her performance during the Queensland floods, when she was actually up there with the people, and think that it was very wooden.

"I'm not the only one saying that. And I've also had some experience where around small children she was wooden.

"Empathy around small children is a pretty good test of what sort of person you are in life."

Mr Latham also said Labor's various positions on climate change were proof it lacked conviction to fight in the national interest.

He said it was unfair for Ms Gillard to be Prime Minister after advising her predecessor Kevin Rudd to dump a carbon price which she is now advocating.

"All that sort of chopping and changing, flipping and flopping, is not a party of fight and conviction," he said.

"It's a party that's sort of tacking on this issue like they're in a yachting race. 'Oh, the wind's blown a bit over towards the Greens, we'd better tack that way. What, the wind's blowing back, the outer suburban people don't like it because the cost of living pressures, oh we'd better tack that way'."

Professor Marian Baird, from the University of Sydney's Women and Work Research Group, says Mr Latham is barking up the wrong tree.

"It's ridiculous dichotomy to draw. Some women don't have children, many women do have children. I haven't read any research that it makes a difference to one's ability to love and have empathy for others," she said.

"What he is saying about Julia Gillard is completely inappropriate and in fact, women with and without children will support Julia Gillard rather than Mark Latham when he's making comments like this."

Professor Baird says it is disappointing that Mr Latham would pursue such an "irrelevant argument".

"I cannot actually see what the relevance of the argument is. A person who is leading a country has a huge responsibility and a massive workload and burden," she said.

"I think what we should be looking for is someone who's carrying that load responsibly and giving the job everything they can."

Professor Baird says this kind of criticism is not new for Ms Gillard, but she would be able to deal with it.

"Julia Gillard has dealt with these sorts of comments before as we know and she is smart enough and intelligent enough and warm enough to know that it really won't have any impact on her and that she'll be able to just laugh it off," she said.