Newspoll: Pain from leadership coup revealed as vote slides nationwide
FRONTING Coalition MPs today for the first time since the Wentworth by-election, Scott Morrison has warned his fractured party won’t be dragged to the left or the right.
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SCOTT Morrison has issued a warning to his fractured party that the government won’t be dragged to the left or the right after it copped a thrashing in the Wentworth by-election, saying “it’s not hokey pokey politics”.
Fronting Coalition MPs today for the first time since Saturday’s horror by-election, where there was a massive 18 per cent swing against the government, the Prime Minister also urged his team to show “discipline, unity and purpose”.
“We’re not shifting to the left or the right - it’s not hokey pokey politics,” Mr Morrison told the joint party meeting in Canberra today.
His comments come after conservative and moderate Liberal MPs vented their anger and frustration on Sunday and yesterday about the Wentworth result, blaming Malcolm Turnbull for quitting politics or blaming the conservative-led leadership coup which sought to install Peter Dutton as prime minister in the first place.
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Meanwhile, The Australian reports an analysis of four Newspolls since the August 24 leadership spill shows a desolate picture for the government six months out from an expected May 2019 election.
Moderate MPs have warned the Wentworth result, which is likely to see independent Kerryn Phelps claim the seat, shows voters want the party to do more on climate change.
Conservatives say the party will lose seats in Queensland if the party goes harder to tackle climate change.
Mr Morrison told his MPs the party would continue to be a “strong centre-right party focusing on the needs of Australians”.
In anticipation that the government will lose Wentworth to Dr Phelps, Mr Morrison attempted to allay MPs concerns by making the point the government had effectively already been a minority government for the past two months since Mr Turnbull quit.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack also attempted to reassure MPs the result didn’t herald a wipeout at the next election, saying: “What they think in Double Bay is not what they think in Dubbo.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also noted Labor had seen a bigger loss at the Wills by-election in 1992 and had gone onto win government the following year.
The Newspoll analysis, based on the two-party preferred swings since the 2016 election, shows that the Coalition faces the very real possibility of losing 25 seats across the nation, eight held by current frontbenchers.
Since the leadership spill, the swing against the government in primary vote nationally was at three per cent.
This has put the Coalition back to the position it was at under Mr Turnbull in the last quarter of last year, erasing the small gains made throughout this year and leaving the Coalition’s vote 7.1 percentage points behind its result at the 2016 election.
The most recent Newspoll on October 14 showed signs that the Coalition was gaining ground but the first sweeping analysis of the electoral ramifications of the leadership change confirms that it faces an uphill battle to mend the electoral damage.
The analysis, which averages the poll results for the quarter, shows major swings in some states as high as five per cent in Queensland and seven per cent in South Australia. The smallest decrease in popular support was recorded in NSW, the home state of both Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison.
But it’s some good news for Mr Morrison; according to the Newspoll data, the PM has emerged as a more popular leader than Mr Turnbull was at any time since the 2016 election and has begun to bring together the Liberal Party’s older base behind his leadership.
Despite the animosity directed at the Liberal and Nationals parties, Mr Morrison is enjoying personal satisfaction ratings higher than Mr Turnbull’s in every state except Victoria where he was level with the former prime minister.