Rudd will lead Labor to election: Tanner

Federal Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner is adamant Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will lead the government to the next election despite poor opinion polls.

He dismissed reports senior Labor MPs wanted Mr Rudd dumped in favour of Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

"Kevin Rudd will lead the government to the election. I believe the government will win the election," Mr Tanner told ABC Television.

"It will be a tough fight; anything can happen in an election contest."

The senior cabinet minister said he expected leadership discussion in newspapers.

"Suddenly, it's become a much tighter contest, and we're under a bit of pressure. That's always going to happen," Mr Tanner said.

The federal government's opinion poll woes have worsened since it unveiled a proposal in May for a 40 per cent resource super-profits tax.

Galaxy Research principal David Briggs predicted Labor would lose four of its 15 Queensland seats if an election were held now.

"There's definitely four we can see going," he told Sky News on Sunday.

"The mining tax, it's a severe negative for the government at the moment."

Mr Briggs tipped Labor would lose the Brisbane seat of Longman and the regional seats of Flynn, Dawson and Leichhardt.

Labor is also in strife in the other resources state of Western Australia.

A Westpoll survey, published in The West Australian on Saturday, showed Labor's primary vote in the state slumping to a record low of 26 per cent.

Labor would lose all its seats in Western Australia if the poll results were replicated at the election.

On a two-party preferred basis, the coalition holds a 68 per cent to 32 per cent lead over Labor in Western Australia.

Labor is also under pressure from the left, with the Greens seriously challenging Mr Tanner in his Melbourne electorate.

But the minister said his vote margin was actually stronger than it was in 2001, when the Greens began making inroads in his seat.

Mr Tanner also dismissed a News Limited report saying the government had poured stimulus funds into his seat, arguing much of the spending was for public housing.