Ms Gillard took five hours out of her schedule on May 25 to pose for the photograph at a studio in Alexandria.

Six prime ministerial staffers, including personal stylists and make-up artists, accompanied Ms Gillard to the shoot.

The PM brought several changes of outfit but ended up choosing clothes selected by Women's Weekly.

On the same day, Ms Gillard told party candidates at a forum in western Sydney that they should focus on Labor values: "Ours is being out and one with the community. Making sure we understand community needs and community pressures."

The Prime Minister's judgment has been called into question recently following a speech in which she raised the subject of abortion as an election issue and condemned "men in blue ties" who she said would push women out of the political mainstream. Mr Rudd then took to wearing a blue tie while out campaigning.

 "I think I can explain (why I'm doing it)," Ms Gillard tells the Weekly about posing for the photograph. "If there is something I hope that I've done for the image of women in public life is that we can go into an adversarial environment like parliament and we can dominate it and make it our own, and we can conquer it."

Despite being an avowed republican, Gillard said she was happy to knit a royal baby's gift.

"I just thought it would be cute," she told the Weekly. "A cute project to work on."

During the actual photographic session, Ms Gillard seemed to have second thoughts. As she took her place in the armchair and took up the knitting needles, the Prime Minister told staffers: "This feels slightly absurd."

The royal baby is due to be born next month.

The Daily Telegraph's editorial.  Hard to disagree.

The move has haunted the Prime Minister ever since and is one of the primary reasons for the catastrophic decline in Labor's electoral support over the past three years.

In opposition, Gillard was the architect of Labor's more relaxed policy on asylum seekers, which turned out to be another ill-considered decision. Once that policy was put in place early in 2008, it led to a massive surge in asylum seeker arrivals. Subsequent policy revisions have not stemmed the flow.

Now, staring at electoral oblivion and increased pressure on her party leadership, the PM has made another questionable choice.Although it has none of the gravity of policies on carbon emissions or asylum seeker arrivals, Gillard's decision to pose in an elaborately staged photoshoot for the Women's Weekly calls into doubt her basic political acumen.

Nobody could possibly have any issue with the Prime Minister personally knitting a toy kangaroo for a royal baby. It's a sweet gesture.

But just look at how luxurious and over-the-top is that image of our Prime Minister, who posed in a Sydney photographic studio for five full hours in order to achieve the desired look.

Six prime ministerial staffers accompanied her at the photo session, which was the idea of her senior adviser, John McTernan. Consider the public expense, all just to present a positive angle at a time when Ms Gillard's political stocks are in freefall.

Rather than being positive, the image suggests a prime minister who is completely out of touch with the electorate and who cannot read the public mood. It also supports the view of critics who claim Ms Gillard misunderstands the seriousness of her office.