Former prime minister Kevin Rudd thinks Donald Trump should be given a go - at least at the start of his presidency.
Ahead of the president-elect's inauguration, the now New York resident believes Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop should try hard to work with his administration.
"If it turns bad, then we go to a plan B but I think we have to try and give him the benefit of the doubt at least for the beginning," Mr Rudd told the Seven Network on Friday.
Mr Rudd, who is now the president of US think-tank Asia Society Policy Institute, hopes Mr Trump will grow into the job.
"To be blunt, he did not expect to win this thing," he said.
"Will he get his temperament under control and become presidential? Let's give it a few weeks and see what happens."
If he was in Mr Turnbull's shoes, Mr Rudd says he would be telling the incoming president to calm down activity in the Taiwan Strait.
Secondly, Australia should be working closely with the US on the key security challenge of North Korea's escalating nuclear weapons program.
Mr Rudd would also urge Mr Trump to rebrand or reconstitute the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which he intends on getting rid of.
