Malcolm Turnbull and Coalition still struggling in final Newspoll for 2017

THE Bennelong by-election victory was heralded as a ‘renaissance’ for Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, but the final Newspoll for the year has grim figures for the Coalition.

THE passing of laws on gay marriage, a win in the Bennelong by-election and the Sam Dastyari scandal have failed to deliver a bounce to the Coalition, with Labor still ahead on a two-party preferred basis, the last Newspoll for the year shows.

Labor leads the Coalition by 53 per cent to 47, representing a national swing against the government of three per cent.

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The poll of 1669 voters across the country, conducted exclusively for The Australian over the weekend, shows the coalition has made no ground in the past two weeks with Labor maintaining a one-point primary vote lead of 37.

The Coalition is still seen the better manager of the economy and on national security and border protection, but Labor for the first time is seen as best placed to deliver on relief from cost of living stresses.

The Greens remained steady on 10 per cent while One Nation dropped a further point to seven per cent.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull maintained his narrow lead over Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister, lifting two points to 41 per cent while the opposition leader himself went up a point to 34 per cent.

Despite the poor poll results, Mr Turnbull will start the new year with a win.

John Alexander’s re-election in Bennelong will return the Coalition to a one-seat majority in the House of Representatives next year and allow the government to refer three Labor MPs with questions over their citizenship status to the High Court.

Labor MPs Josh Wilson, Susan Lamb and Justine Keay are likely to be referred, along with NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie, when Parliament resumes in February.

They will join Labor MP David Feeney and Labor senator Katy Gallagher, whose cases were sent to the High Court in the final sitting week of the year.

If all of the MPs heading to the High Court are ruled ineligible, the government has the potential to pick up three seats in a super Saturday of by-elections in April, further boosting the Prime Minister’s power in the lower house.

Meanwhile, the mid-year budget update released today shows the dual-citizenship saga affecting federal MPs has cost Australian taxpayers more than $11 million in legal costs so far.

The mid-year budget papers, released in Canberra on Monday, show the cost of the constitutional matters came in at $11.6 million.

Taxpayers will now foot the bill for further legal fights over Skye Kakoschke-Moore and Jacqui Lambie’s replacements for the senate, and likely for the cases of the five Labor MPs and Ms Sharkie.