Newspoll: Coalition faces election carnage despite Scott Morrison’s encouraging results

TONY Abbott says the Coalition has a “good fighting chance” of winning the next election despite today’s Newspoll showing Labor is in its strongest position since 2010.

JUST two weeks into the top job and Scott Morrison has already moved ahead of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as the preferred prime minister — but it doesn’t look like the new PM’s honeymoon boost will be enough to get voters on his party’s side.

An exclusive Newspoll, conducted for The Australian between September 6-9, has the Coalition trailing Labor 44-56 on the two-party-preferred vote. This makes it the 40th straight losing Newspoll for the current government.

But former prime minister Tony Abbott, who has been given free rein to speak out against government policy despite being given a special envoy roll, dismissed the results.

He declared the Coalition still has a “fighting chance” if it tackled the “thuggishness” and “lawlessness” of the construction union, scaled back Australia’s immigration rate and forced power prices down.

“I don’t think we should worry too much about polls, what we should focus on is performance,” Mr Abbott told 2GB radio this morning.

“I’m quite encouraged by what I’ve seen from Prime Minister Scott Morrison ... I think we have a good fighting chance of winning the next election.”

“He’s got a minister for bringing power prices down, he’s got a minister for congestion busting in our cities and as far as I can work out he’s also got a minister for deregistering the CFMMEU.”

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Scott Morrison has already moved ahead of Opposition leader Bill Shorten as the preferred Prime Minister. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Mr Abbott also weighed into the Wagga Wagga by-election blaming the results on the state government’s “crazy” policies, such as the greyhound racing ban and its refusal to extend shark meshing.

“From time to time they do these crazy things that belong to the Greens, not to the Liberals greyhound racing ban,” he said.

“You’ve got to put people before sharks for god’s sake,” he said.

“That’s crazy.”

His comments came after Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that the tumultuous events of the federal leadership spill played a part in the results.

“The people of Wagga sent me and my government a very strong message yesterday and I accept that message,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“The timing of the by-election with coincided with other major political events that could not have been foreseen. It was the perfect storm, the disenchant was doubled by obviously the actions of the former member, but also what happened at other levels of government.”

Former prime minister Tony Abbott says the Coalition still has a “fighting chance”. Picture: AAP

Senior government minister Mathias Cormann, a Liberal Party powerbroker whose decision to back Peter Dutton in the leadership spill was a key tipping point for the coup, today downplayed the Newspoll result and the ongoing chaos that has plagued the government since the spill.

The Finance Minister said it was “early days” for the Morrison government, while acknowledging the party had gone through a “difficult period”.

“We are now getting on with the job,” he told ABC radio.

“I would remind everyone that when we came into government in 2013, we inherited from the Labor Party, from the government that Bill Shorten was a senior member of, a weakening economy, rising unemployment, a rapidly deteriorating budget position.

“And as a result of the hard work of the Abbott government and the Turnbull government, which is now going to be built on by the Morrison Government, the economy now is stronger, employment growth is stronger, the unemployment rate is well below what it was anticipated to be and the budget is in a stronger position.

Malcolm Turnbull was toppled in a brutal leadership spill on August 24. Picture by Sean Davey

“We’re getting on with the job the Australian people expect us to get on with the job.”

Senator Cormann also dismissed the 29 per cent swing against the Liberals at Wagga Wagga by-election in NSW at the weekend.

“Clearly the federal dynamics in recent weeks wouldn’t have helped, there’s no question about that,” he told ABC radio.

“But the most significant factor, I would have thought, that when you have an incumbent member being forced to resign under a corruption cloud, I don’t know that anyone can really credibly point the finger at the federal sphere as the major reason for that result.”

But winning the next election will prove a tough ask. Labor has lifted its primary vote a further point to 42 per cent on the back of the turmoil surrounding the government, which resulted in a bloodbath leadership spill on August 24.

Labor’s solid primary vote marks the strongest support for the party in The Australian’s Newspoll since the days following Kevin Rudd’s dismissal in July 2010.

It is now almost at the level of popular support that led to Labor’s 2007 landslide victory against John Howard.

Bill Shorten didn’t fare well in his performance ratings. Picture: AAP

Meanwhile, the Coalition primary vote increased one point from 33 to 34 per cent.

Mr Morrison’s honeymoon boost has seen him overtake Labor leader Bill Shorten as preferred Prime Minister, at 42 to 36 per cent — a result which also makes him a more popular leader than Malcolm Turnbull.

His performance ratings were also encouraging, with 41 per cent of voters satisfied and 39 per cent dissatisfied.

Mr Shorten, on the other hand, didn’t benefit from the leadership spill, with 51 per cent of voters dissatisfied with his performance and just 37 per cent of voters satisfied.

Read the full story at The Australian.