Taxpayer-funded ads for a resources tax have been pulled, moments after newly sworn-in PM Julia Gillard vowed to cut them if the mining industry did the same.
BHP BIliton also reportedly suspended its campaign, as Gillard made her first speech as leader of the Labor party.
Gillard must reconsider Labor's proposed mining tax and its stance on an emissions trading scheme, the party's incoming national president and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says.
"There's obviously no point changing leadership unless the federal party makes some decisions about changing the direction that Australians have been, I think, indicating they don't want to see," Ms Bligh told reporters in Toowoomba.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"Julia Gillard will be lobbied just as hard by me on the resources rent tax as her predecessor was.
"I hope we'll see some movement on that in the not-too-distant future."
Ms Bligh congratulated Ms Gillard on her elevation to the nation's top job, describing her as "very affable, very competent, very intelligent and with a practical turn of mind".
"Julia will be more than capable of stepping up to probably the toughest job in the country," the premier said.
She had some words of sympathy for Mr Rudd, who stood aside for Ms Gillard on Thursday morning after it became clear he'd lost his party support.
"Politics is a tough and often bloody business," Ms Bligh said.
Ms Bligh takes over the figurehead position of ALP national president on August 1.
