Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is standing by his Defence Minister, but says he is disappointed Joel Fitzgibbon failed to declare gifts he received from a Chinese-born businesswoman.

Mr Fitzgibbon last night admitted he failed to declare that Helen Liu paid for him to visit China in 2002 and 2005, and gave him a suit last year, which he later returned.

He previously said that he had only ever received small Christmas and birthday gifts from Ms Liu, who Mr Fitzgibbon says is a close family friend.

The Obama administration today formally unveiled details of its long-awaited plan to help cleanse banks and financial institutions of bad home loans and toxic securities, making a calculated gamble that partnering with private investors to buy the assets will stabilize the crisis while limiting the risk to taxpayers.