Julia Gillard has given no comment on opinion polls during a press conference in the Primo factory, Wacol.

A DEVASTATING opinion poll today is a "wake-up call" for Labor, a senior minister said today as he revealed he had a "brief talk" with former leader Kevin Rudd last week.

Regional Development Minister Simon Crean said Mr Rudd had to ensure his busy schedule wasn't seen as "a thinly disguised effort to promote him as the alternative leader".

However, Labor sources today saw Mr Rudd's criticism of the mining tax last week as one of the factors which saw the Opposition wrench a 12 point two-party preferred lead over the Government , in a Nielsen poll.

Much of the polling was done before Mr Rudd's declaration yesterday that he would not be a candidate for the leadership.

"It's a wake-up call isn't it? You can't gild the lily," Mr Crean told Sydney's 2UE today.

He said: "So again one can say easily that you shouldn't read too much into each poll but it's an important wake up call for us and it shows what happens when you've got the internals detracting from you plus everything that's happening in New South Wales."

Last week Mr Crean sat with Mr Rudd at a dinner for departing former Attorney-General Rob McClelland. He didn't know Mr Rudd would be at the dinner but would have gone anyway if he had.

He said they spoke briefly.

"I don't think it's a question of telling him to shut up. I think it's a question of ensuring that he stays on the issue rather than just having a perception that it's a thinly disguised effort to promote him as the alternative leader so to speak," Mr Crean said today.

"Now, I think that with one or two exceptions last week that's what he was doing."

The Nielsen polling released today gives Opposition Leader Tony Abbott a 12 point lead in the two-party preferred vote, 56 per cent to 44 per cent.

And for the first time in seven months Mr Abbott has been nominated as preferred Prime Minister, 49 per cent over 45 per cent for Prime Minister Gillard.

The findings will distract from the Government's $1 billion scheme to boost research and innovation for manufacturing.

The Prime Minister today said she let the polling reported in Fairfax newspapers "wash through" and continued with her job.

"The job is more important (than polls). So each and every day I just let that wash through and I focus on what I need to do," she told the Seven network.

The Nielsen survey is just one poll and future findings could bounce around without forming a trend.

However, it came after the Government's messy start to the Parliamentary year and increasing internal Labor doubts over the leadership of Ms Gillard and her deputy, Treasurer Wayne Swan.

That easing of pressure on the Gillard leadership was wiped out by polling which today showed 61 per cent of voters - and 45 per cent of ALP voters - wanted Mr Rudd as leader.

The support for Mr Rudd rose six per cent since September although his backing among Labor voters fell slightly.

The survey also found that 58 per cent of voters - including 45 per cent of Coalition voters - wanted Malcolm Turnbull instead of Tony Abbott as Opposition leader.

Mr Turnbull's support fell five per cent among voters generally since September, and went down eight per cent among Coalition voters.

Nielsen pollster John Stirton said much of the support for Mr Rudd as leader came from coalition voters.

"But when you're behind on primary votes as much as Labor is you need some of those voters to switch sides," he told Sky News.

"So in a sense that makes that more significant than the fact that Malcolm Turnbull is also the preferred leader over Tony Abbott."

He said the drop in Labor's primary vote hadn't cancelled all the gains the party made last year but it had wiped out "a reasonable chunk".

He thought part of Mr Abbott's gain in the preferred prime minister stakes could be attributed to the opposition leader's more measured performances in parliament during the first two sitting weeks of the year.

Also, Mr Abbott's speech on the legislation to recognise indigenous people got a bit of a run in the media.

"That allowed some voters to see a different side of Tony Abbott than they'd seen previously," Mr Stirton said.

Labor MP Nick Champion put Mr Abbott's gain down to his being "in hiding, wrapped up in cotton wool and not doing any interviews of any substance".

Liberal backbencher Steve Ciobo said his party wouldn't be taking anything for granted, even with such good poll numbers.

"Politics is volatile, things can change," he told Sky News.

"We have got to campaign every single day."

Trade Minister Craig Emerson called for unity within the Labor party.

"There have been diversions, there have been distractions, unity of purposes is needed," Dr Emerson told ABC radio.

He said that is what the government must do in order to have the confidence of the Australian people that they are being listened to and working on policies, such as Sunday's innovation plan.

"This is a perfectly reasonable position on behalf of the Australian people," he said.

Union boss Paul Howes said he was sick of opinion polls and regretted being poll-driven at the time Kevin Rudd was dumped as Labor leader.

"I am not worried about constant polls that change from week to week," he told ABC television on Monday.

He was reminded he didn't appear so sanguine about such samples of public opinion when he was one of the so-called "faceless" men who dumped Kevin Rudd as leader in 2010 after a series of bad polls.

"Absolutely. You just heard me eat humble pie," Mr Howes said.

"I regret that I was one of the people that used to engage in this constant useless chatter on various opinion and chat shows around the country.

"I am sick of it, I am not doing it any more."

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver wouldn't be drawn on leadership speculation.

"When we're out and about in workplaces around the country, we don't have workers talking to us about who's dining with who or the leadership speculation," he told ABC radio.

"We know that the Gillard government has been doing a good job out there and hopefully will continue to do so."