I'll still be leading Libs at 52: Nelson

Voter backing for Peter Costello to lead the coalition is a reflection of the respect people had for the former treasurer, Brendan Nelson says.

Mr Nelson has made a bold prediction on his 50th birthday - he'll still be around asopposition leader in two years' time.

The besieged opposition leader continues to languish in opinion polls and voters aremaking clear their preference for Peter Costello as Liberal leader.

Mr Costello has indicated he will not clarify his future intentions - whether or not he will consider a tilt at the Liberal leadership - until he releases his memoirsnext month.

Aside from Mr Costello, opposition treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull is waiting inthe wings and is expected to pounce on the leadership when the time is right.

Celebrating his 50th birthday in Canberra on Tuesday, Dr Nelson said he expected tostill be leading the Liberals at the end of his 50th year.

"... and my 52nd year," he told reporters.

The next federal election is due in 2010, the year Dr Nelson turns 52. Voter backing for Peter Costello to lead the coalition is a reflection of the respectpeople had for the former treasurer, Dr Nelson says.

A Fairfax/Nielsen poll has revealed Mr Costello (44 per cent) is the preferred choice of voters over treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull (27 per cent) and DrNelson (17 per cent).

"That particular poll ... in no small way reflects the enormous amount of respect and regard in this country for the job that (Mr Costello) did as treasurer," DrNelson told Fairfax Radio on Tuesday.

"It is also a pretty stark reminder how significantly it changed under the very nervous man that is (Wayne) Swan, our treasurer, and indeed (Prime Minister Kevin) Rudd."Dr Nelson says he will be "very happy" if Mr Costello decides to stay in parliament.

"I can assure you I am very determined and I will lead us to the next election." The poll also showed voters preferred Mr Rudd (65 per cent) as prime minister overDr Nelson (19 per cent).

Dr Nelson likened Mr Rudd to a new motor vehicle and himself to a "much-trusted"older model.

"It will take a while before they (voters) reach the point of deciding when they have had enough defects, disappointments and breakdowns before they decide thatmaybe in hindsight that they didn't do the right thing," he said.

But having chosen the government, Australians wanted it to get on with the job andsucceed.

"If you have got a small business overdraft, a mortgage, a credit card, you are trying to put petrol in your car, you want the government to succeed." Dr Nelson said when voters had been given the chance at the ballot box - such as theGippsland by-election in June, they didn't think much about Labor.

"We had a six per cent swing against Mr Rudd, the biggest swing since the firstby-election in the Whitlam government," he said.

Meanwhile, opposition frontbencher Steve Ciobo is standing by Dr Nelson, insisting voters are more interested in policy and the economy than who leads the LiberalParty.

"I am not actually that interested in an indulgent exercise about who is going to be leader of the Liberal Party or who isn't. We have a leader. He is doing a good job,"Mr Ciobo told Sky News on Tuesday.

"When I am walking across the street and chatting to people, they are not talking tome about Liberal Party leadership.

"They are talking to me about the leadership of the Australian economy and about the policy decisions that are being taken." Mr Ciobo, opposition spokesman on small business, said the government was full ofposers.

"It is a government that is more concerned about posing in different positions thanit is on about taking some really tough decisions," he said.