Labor pulls ahead of Turnbull government in Newspoll

UPDATE: LABOR has drawn ahead of the Turnbull government in opinion polls for the first time three months out from a likely election, but the Prime Minister is refusing to comment on the poll result.

Bill Shorten in Grovedale

LABOR has drawn ahead of the Turnbull government in opinion polls for the first time three months out from a likely election, but the Prime Minister is refusing to comment on the poll result.

Newspoll, taken for The Australian, showed Labor leading the Coalition 51-49 per cent — a reversal of the position just two weeks earlier.

It is the first time Mr Turnbull has trailed in the opinion polls since he rolled Tony Abbott for the prime ministership seven months ago.

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The poll of 1743 people nationwide was taken last Thursday to Sunday, after a messy week in which Mr Turnbull confirmed he was considering allowing the states to levy their own income taxes to fund schools and hospitals, but abandoned the proposal two days later when the states refused it.

The Coalition’s primary vote also fell two points to 41 per cent, while Labor’s climbed two to 36 per cent.

This morning Mr Turnbull was refusing to comment on the awful poll result.

“I’ll leave the commentary on matters like that to the commentators,” he said.

Asked if Coalition MPs and ministers were entitled to be angry at the prime minister for the mess of the last week, including a botched plan on tax reform with the states, Mr Turnbull replied: “Thankyou for inviting me to be a commentator.

“It’s a line of work I used to do in my youth but I’m not doing it any longer.

“We’re here to talk about the construction industry, we’re here to talk about economic growth, we’re here to talk about the key element of our economic plan to ensure that we can continue to successfully transition from a mining, construction-fuelled economy to one that is more diverse.”

Mr Turnbull regularly commented on poll results in the run up to previous elections but appeared to have changed his policy today.

Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne admitted last night the fresh polling was a reflection of the government’s “messy week”.

“Polls come and go. And today’s Newspoll is a reflection of the messy week that Greg Sheridan so helpfully talked about at the beginning of the show,” Pyne said on the ABC’s Q&A.

He stressed that Mr Turnbull remained preferred prime minister.

“But actually, if you look at the poll about who people want, Malcolm Turnbull or Bill Shorten, Malcolm always leads Bill Shorten basically two to one,” he said.

The Newspoll result followed signs of further tensions between Mr Turnbull and his Treasurer Scott Morrison, and will send alarm bells ringing throughout the Coalition as the government prepares to pull the trigger on a July 2 double dissolution election.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Labor leader Bill Shorten.

When Mr Turnbull launched the coup against Mr Abbott on September 14, he said the public had made up its mind about Mr Abbott’s leadership, noting: “we have lost 30 Newspolls in a row.’’

And while the change of leadership led to an immediate improvement in the opinion polls for the Government, recent months have seen the results slip to 50-50, before a slight improvement in the last two polls which had the Coalition ahead by a nose, 51-49 per cent.

The result, coming just a month before the federal Budget, follows a string of backdowns on economic reform, including on proposals to raise the GST to 15 per cent and potential tweaks to negative gearing.

It also comes after weeks of undermining from Mr Abbott and positioning from some of his disgruntled supporters in the conservative arm of the party, including dumped Senate leader Eric Abetz.

The results undo the strong position the Coalition held at the start of the year, when it led Labor 53-47 per cent, and will have strategists regretting their decision not to rush to an early election to take advantage of Mr Turnbull’s early popularity.

Voters appear to have rewarded Labor’s discipline and early policy announcements, with Mr Shorten’s preferred prime minister rating jumping six points to 27 per cent.

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Originally published as Labor pulls ahead of Turnbull government in Newspoll