Newspoll: Malcolm Turnbull loses 29th straight Newspoll as Labor vote climbs

MALCOLM Turnbull has blown up at a reporter in an awkward rant after being asked about his 29th Newspoll defeat in a row — one less than the 30 he used to roll Tony Abbott.

MALCOLM Turnbull has blown up at a reporter in an awkward rant after being asked about his 29th Newspoll defeat in a row — just one poll less than the 30 he used to roll Tony Abbott.

The Prime Minister was asked about the result — which saw Labor’s primary vote surge to its highest levels since he took over the Liberal leadership from Mr Abbott — at a press conference in Canberra this morning.

In an attempt to spin the question away from the poll, Mr Turnbull responded to the reporter: “Why are you smiling then if it’s not good news?”

“You are so pleased. You are so pleased!

“I know why — because you are so happy about all of the jobs we have created because you are not distracted by polls.

“You know that we have created 420,700 jobs in Australia in the last year.

“And you know that that’s the number we’re focused on — we are focused on creating opportunities for Australians, we are focused on getting taxes down.”

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has had another nightmare Newspoll. Picture: AAP Image/James Ross

Mr Turnbull’s leadership will be under fire as his self-imposed deadline of 30 Newspoll losses in a row approaches.

It’s expected the 30th Newspoll will land the day before the May Budget.

In today’s result, the Opposition consolidated its lead over the Coalition despite the backlash over Labor leader Bill Shorten’s $59 million plan to cut tax credit refunds for more than one million retirees, The Australian reports.

It’s a bombshell result for the Coalition, given MPs thought Mr Shorten’s policy of “robbing” one million retirees would kick off the Government’s political revival.

The exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian showed the Coalition coming in behind Labor on a two party preferred vote of 47/53.

The poll showed that the only change to people’s voting motives was a slight swing to Labor which improved its primary vote one point to 39 per cent with the Coalition unchanged on 37 per cent.

It is the first time since September 2015 when Mr Turnbull took on Mr Abbott for the Liberal leadership that Labor’s first preference vote has been as high.

Even Bill Shorten’s controversial tax plan couldn’t dent his numbers. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Mr Shorten’s numbers were not affected by his controversial tax plan, with his satisfaction rating among voters lifting a point to 34 per cent, putting him two points ahead of Mr Turnbull who stayed on 32 per cent.

Despite avoiding a hit in the latest poll, it’s understood Labor will tweak its tax plan so pensioners are not impacted.

Fairfax Media reports today details of the carve out for pensioners are being finalised but it’s expected Labor will announce the rejigged policy shortly.

Financial modelling has reportedly shown shielding pensioners and part-pensioners from the plan to axe imputation dividend refunds would not dramatically reduce the anticipated saving of $59 billion over a decade.

A gap of only three points separates the leaders as preferred PM now with Mr Shorten climbing a point to 36 per cent and Mr Turnbull regaining some ground that had given way during the Barnaby Joyce disaster with a two point gain to 39 per cent.

The national poll showed no change to One Nation’s numbers which remain on a primary vote of seven per cent and no movement for the Greens on nine per cent.

The primary vote gain for Labor has come at the expense of the independent parties.

Parts of the story were originally published in The Australian and are reprinted with permission.