PM ‘regrets’ using Newspoll yardstick
MALCOLM Turnbull regrets using 30 consecutive Newspoll losses as a reason for dumping Tony Abbott, but he insists his party room is behind him.
The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian yesterday, shows the Coalition trails Labor 48-52 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
The Coalition has narrowed the margin by a point, but the 30th consecutive loss matches the mark Mr Turnbull used as a reason to topple Mr Abbott back in September 2015.
“I regret making those remarks at the time, making the remarks about 30 Newspolls,” Mr Turnbull said in Sydney yesterday.
“But what I promised to do was to provide economic leadership and traditional cabinet government and I have done both.”
Mr Abbott, who is on the annual Pollie Pedal charity bike ride from Melbourne to Canberra, said the 30 Newspoll test was Mr Turnbull’s alone. “It’s really, I suppose, something for Malcolm to explain why it applied to me, but shouldn’t apply now,” he told 2GB radio.
Mr Abbott denied he was preparing to challenge the Prime Minister.
“One of the differences between me and some of my colleagues is that if I’ve got something to say, I don’t ring up a journalist and whisper poison into their ears – I say it upfront, openly, and put my name on it,” he said.
The Prime Minister said he would lead the Liberals to the next election, due by May 2019.
“I do have the confidence of my colleagues and no one, by the way, is suggesting I don’t,” Mr Turnbull said.
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop said Mr Turnbull would remain party leader. “The public are expressing an opinion, but it will come to a point where they will have to make a decision about who they trust with economic management and national security and I’m confident that that will be Malcolm Turnbull,” she told Channel 9.
Asked whether she would run against Mr Turnbull if her colleagues asked her, Ms Bishop said: “I don’t envisage those circumstances at all.”
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Prime Minister had the support of the party room.
“It’s not unusual for incumbent governments in between
elections being behind in the polls, I mean we’re not actually that far behind, truth be told,” he told ABC radio.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said if polls were to be believed, Nick Xenophon would be South Australian premier.
Newspoll also found Mr Turnbull remains preferred prime minister at 38 per cent, compared to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s 36 per cent. An Ipsos/Fairfax poll published on Saturday also showed the Coalition at 48-52, based on preference flows at the last election.
Mr Shorten said he didn’t define his success by Newspoll wins. “It’s Mr Turnbull who said 30 Newspolls is a definition of success. That’s his problem,” Mr Shorten said in Perth.
IT’S REALLY … SOMETHING FOR MALCOLM TO EXPLAIN WHY IT APPLIED TO ME, BUT SHOULDN’T NOW TONY ABBOTT