SYDNEY- AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday marked the one-year anniversary of his election with a strong showing in the latest opinion poll, despite growing concerns about the nation's finances.

The centre-left Labor leader, dubbed 'Kevin 747' by the media for his frequent official overseas travel, has remained widely popular with the public since wresting power from John Howard in the Nov 2007 election.

Newspoll surveys show Mr Rudd, who has ratified the UN's Kyoto Protocol on climate change and made a historic apology to Aborigines, has enjoyed the highest voter satisfaction of any prime minister in their first year in the company's 24-year history.

Their latest poll, published on Monday in The Australian newspaper, shows 67 per cent of voters are satisfied with the 51-year-old former diplomat's performance - compared with 59 per cent in January.

The survey, which polled 1,159 people over the weekend, also revealed that the government, which also pulled Australia's combat force from Iraq, holds a 10-point lead over the conservative opposition.

The one downside was growing fears about the nation's finances in the face of the global financial crisis - with 56 per cent of respondents saying they were concerned or very concerned about the budget going into deficit.

Newspoll head Martin O'Shannessy said despite the concern, the financial meltdown had appeared to bolster the standing of Mr Rudd, whose satisfaction rating hit a low of 50 per cent in September before the worst of the crisis hit.

'To characterise this as a national security crisis, as Mr Rudd did, would have contributed, I guess, to that expected dynamic that once you've got a crisis on your hands, you get behind the leader,' Mr O'Shannessy told AFP.

'Clearly he hasn't upset too many people. But there's definitely a resurgence in his ratings since the economic crisis started.'

Speaking from Peru, where he has been attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, Mr Rudd warned that the meltdown would slash AU$40 billion (S$38.6 billion) of projected revenues from the budget.

Asked how he felt about his first year in office, Mr Rudd said that he expected the coming 12 months to be much more difficult.

'It is going to involve a lot of hard work and a very tough year ahead,' he told reporters. 'Not just for the government, (but) for the economy, the Australian people, families.'

Mr Rudd announced a AU$10.4 billion stimulus package which will deliver one-off payments to lower and middle-income families and pensioners and financial incentives to boost the housing industry.

But his decision to introduce a guarantee for bank deposits of unlimited amounts at the height of the crisis in October has been described by the opposition as 'a financial blunder of epic proportions.'

Critics say the move triggered a flight of capital from managed investment funds to the safety of banks, prompting some of the nation's biggest funds to freeze billions of dollars in assets to stem withdrawals.

The decision was later modified to limit the free guarantee to deposits of less than one million dollars but not before hundreds of thousands of people had their money frozen.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull on Monday said the decision was 'rushed' and 'bungled' and had had a negative impact on the country's financial system.

'He is the only national leader whose policies in response to the global financial crisis have actually made the situation worse and as a consequence put at risk the jobs and financial security of all Australians,' he said. -- AFP