Judge on economy, not polls, says PM

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull says his economic leadership is why he should stay in the top job, as the Coalition is expected to rack up its 30th Newspoll loss today.

Backbench MPs said he should reflect on his performance after failing his own KPI, while senior ministers insisted his leadership was safe.

MPs are frustrated, but there is no active talk of a spill despite some agitation from what they refer to as a “very, very small” group.

When Mr Turnbull rolled Tony Abbott as Prime Minister in September 2015 he said the polling showed Australians had “clearly made up their minds” on his leadership.

But yesterday he said it was his economic achievements that were the real test, not 20 months of bad polls.

“I certainly regret referring to polling back in 2015,” Mr Turnbull said. “I made my case, however, on a commitment to provide strong economic leadership and restore traditional cabinet government. I have delivered both.”

When he took over as Prime Minister the unemployment rate was 6.2 per cent, dropping now to 5.5 per cent.

The Australian dollar is up against the US dollar, from US70c to US77c, while the cash rate is down slightly and inflation is up.

He said it was the economic test that Australians would decide on at the election next year in “one of the starkest choices in decades”.

“My government will keep delivering on a plan to lower taxes, generate jobs and reduce energy prices. Bill Shorten is promising higher taxes, fewer jobs and a higher cost of living,” he said.

Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch, who was involved in the 2015 spill, said Newspoll had nothing to do with why the party dumped Mr Abbott.

“People forget about the knighting of Prince Philip, people forget the dysfunction in his office. There were a whole raft of reasons that were all his own doing,” he said.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg also said “the leadership is safe with Malcolm Turnbull”.