Rudd backs Bligh over asset sales

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has received an assurance of support from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as she pushes on with her unpopular plan to sell government assets.

Ms Bligh acknowledged on Thursday the plan to raise $15 billion from selling off state assets, including Queensland Rail's coal business and Forestry Plantations Queensland, could cost Labor the next state election.

In Brisbane to sign an agreement for new GP super clinics, Mr Rudd said Ms Bligh was making the tough and unpopular decisions necessary to deal with the financial crisis.

"The premier is responding to her challenges. The premier has been re-elected with a mandate to govern," Mr Rudd told reporters.

"The premier has my strong support."

But Mr Rudd would not say whether he backed her privatisation plans.

"Each responsible head of government in Australia, state and territory, will take those decisions which they deem to be necessary to deal with their budgetary circumstances," he said.

"The premier has my strong support and is doing a good job."

The sell-off was not revealed before the March election in Queensland that returned Ms Bligh's government, and it has met strong opposition from unions.

Ms Bligh's approval rating sank to an all-time low of 30 per cent in a poll published on Sunday.

Opposition treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls said Queenslanders should make their feelings known about the Bligh government's asset sales by punishing Labor at the federal election.

Mr Nicholls said that by backing Ms Bligh, Mr Rudd had implicitly backed the sell-off.

"He's also therefore backed the campaign, the methodology, the lies and deceit that she's told to the people of Queensland before the last election," he told reporters in Brisbane.

"I think a prime minister of Australia who backs those sorts of campaigns needs to be sent a strong message from Queenslanders.

"People are entitled to ask the question, what will they get from Labor at a federal level in the future?"

Treasurer Andrew Fraser also backed the premier despite her plummeting popularity, telling reporters that she was the right person to lead Labor to the next election.

"Anna Bligh is a first-class leader, I personally watched her latch a government to her back and pull it over the line during the state election," Mr Fraser said.