Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the buck stops with him when it comes to the state of the Australian economy, but he has blamed the Opposition for a dramatic decline in consumer confidence.

''As Prime Minister of the country I accept responsibility for good news and bad news, and I will continue to do that,'' he said.

''That is what political leadership is about.''

His comments followed yesterday's release of figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing a fall in the volume of construction work in the June quarter. After adjustment for price changes and regular seasonality, the volume of construction work fell by 2.6 per cent in the quarter.

The slump in construction work will shave about 0.3 per cent from GDP growth, as reflected in the national accounts for the June quarter out next week.

But it was a report showing a dramatic decline in consumer confidence since Labor took office nine months ago that the Opposition latched on to yesterday.

The latest AC Nielsen Global Consumer Index which gauges consumer sentiment in 51 countries shows that in the first half of 2008 the collapse in consumer confidence has been almost twice as severe in Australia as in the rest of the world.

Australian consumer confidence in the past six months fell by 11 percentage points. Mr Rudd ascribed it to global factors such as the credit crisis continuing to wash through the economy. AAP