Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has admitted Labor did not have a mandate for introducing a carbon tax, naming it as a major policy the party "got wrong" during its term in Government.

Asked on Insiders this morning why the Government deserved to be re-elected, he said all governments make mistakes.

"In the past, the Government has got a number of things wrong. All governments do. I seek, however, to admit it," he said.

"For example, I don't think our actions on the carbon tax were right. That's why I changed it and moved towards a floating price.

"To begin with we didn't have a mandate for it. Furthermore, a floating price is the best response to changing international markets, so I have changed that."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott made his opposition to the carbon tax a central plank of his political strategy since 2010, repeatedly claiming that then prime minister Julia Gillard had introduced it without a mandate.

Last month Mr Rudd announced plans to move to a floating price system a year early, but Mr Abbott says a Coalition government would remove the existing scheme altogether, instead aiming to reduce emissions through "direct action".

Despite admitting mistakes, the Prime Minister insisted that Labor had got it right "on the big calls" - including the economy and employment.

"On the big calls on the economy, and keeping us out of recession, we got that right. Our actions on the global financial crisis, we got that right," he said.

"The action on keeping our unemployment level at less than half that of what's in Europe, we have got that right."

He also touted Labor's programs for a national broadband network, schools, hospitals and the disability insurance scheme.

"These are the big calls," he said. "On so many of those, Mr Abbott has got those calls absolutely wrong, including on the economy and how he would have responded to the global financial crisis."

Rudd accuses Abbott of 'strategy of evasion'

The Coalition launches its federal election campaign in Brisbane today, seeking to convince voters of its "positive plan to build a stronger Australia".

But the Prime Minister says the Coalition has not met former treasurer Peter Costello's charter of budget honesty.

"Mr Abbott as of this day, two weeks out from a campaign, effectively is avoiding any level of scrutiny," Mr Rudd said.

"Avoiding any scrutiny on his costings, avoiding any scrutiny on where his cuts would fall, avoiding any scrutiny about what he would do with the Goods and Services Tax and avoiding scrutiny on what would happen with Fair Work Act and protections for penalties and overtime."

He says the Coalition has pursued a strategy of evasion by not releasing its costings.

"What I think the Australian people are doing as we approach the second last week of the campaign is beginning to lift up the lid, lift up the bonnet and look inside at the engine and look inside at the engine and ask some questions," he said.

"Which jobs will go? What will happen to the future of the car industry, 50,000 jobs there once Mr Abbott removes proper support for it? What will happen to my hospital? What will happen to my school?"

Rudd defends schedule for Syria briefings

Mr Rudd also defended his schedule of Saturday afternoon, arguing he never left the impression he was suspending his campaign to deal with the Syrian crisis.

Before a security briefing in Canberra, Mr Rudd travelled to Brisbane to film an episode of the ABC's Kitchen Cabinet at his home.

But Mr Rudd says he discussed the timing of the briefing with the secretary of the Prime Minister's Department.

"He said given the time gap of various other capitals around the world and the need to collate the relevant information from the intelligence agencies, security agencies, from the Defence Department, Department of Foreign Affairs, that the earliest such a briefing would occur would either be last night, Saturday night, or on Sunday," he said.

"I said the best thing to do was to do it as soon as possible. He recommended we do it last night. That's exactly what happened."

He also criticised reporting on the issue in many of News Limited's Sunday newspapers.

"I see Mr Murdoch's newspapers in many parts of the country stated on the front page that a national security briefing to ministers and myself was abandoned because of other commitments I had in Brisbane. That is 100 per cent false. Had the newspaper bothered to contact my office, they would have known it was 100 per cent false.

"The journalist who wrote the story has gone out there this morning to say their headline was false. I don't think it could be any clearer in terms of what has happened here."