Sydney - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's year-long honeymoon with Australian voters ended messily Monday with an opinion poll showing a warm embrace of new opposition Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull.

The numbers reflect disquiet in the electorate over Rudd's frequent travels abroad and his desire to play the global statesman.

Satisfaction with Rudd fell to 50 per cent, its lowest level since he ousted veteran conservative John Howard in a Labor landslide in November. Dissatisfaction with the 
50-year-old former diplomat who eclipsed 11 years of conservative rule jumped five points to 37 per cent.

The poll was published the same day Turnbull named a new front bench that included Julie Bishop as treasury spokesperson and Helen Coonan as spokesperson on foreign affairs.

"We have put together an economic team to provide leadership that has been so sadly lacking from the Rudd government," Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.

Traditionally, the conservatives have been viewed as the better economic managers, and Turnbull is keen for the opposition to play up to its perceived strengths.

"It's a good start for Turnbull, but it hasn't rocketed them into a winning position," pollster John Stirton told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Under former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson, Rudd had seemed impregnable, but a combination of new opposition leadership and the onset of a global financial crisis has conspired to prick Rudd's air of invincibility.

Rudd has helped in buoying Turnbull by refusing to cancel a trip to New York to address the United Nations in light of the turmoil on financial markets.

The opposition has made great capital on the fact that Rudd has been out of the country for 50 nights in the 300 that he has been in office. Turnbull, who was elected a week ago, has dubbed Rudd the country's "prime tourist."

The millionaire former barrister has had success in presenting himself as someone who understands how international finance works. The opinion polls showed Labor losing its edge as best able to manage the economy.

With an election not due for another two years, the poll may only signify glee that the dour Nelson is gone and the conservatives are led by the flamboyant Turnbull. But the numbers suggest an end to the lopsided political contest and the prospect of a hotly contested general election in 2010.

"Obviously we've got a long way to go but I think the Australian people are starting to concentrate on what the main argument is, which is the economic argument," conservative lawmaker Barnaby Joyce said. (dpa)