Josh Frydenberg says Morrison government putting faith in ‘quiet majority’

A major new poll has revealed the Morrison government is in real danger of being swept from power but the Treasurer is pinning his hopes on a ‘secret weapon’.

Josh Frydenberg is putting the fate of his political future in the hands of “quiet Australians”, as new polls reveal he’s in real danger of losing his seat to an independent candidate.

According to the YouGov MRP poll – commissioned exclusively for News Corp – the Treasurer would lose his seat to so-called ‘teal’ independent Monique Ryan.

But Mr Frydenberg says he’s taking any polls suggesting he faces a political demise “with a jar of salt”, and his putting his faith in what Scott Morrison calls “the quiet Australians”.

“There’s still a long way to go and the battle will be tight, but … I have worked at my local community for the last 12 years,” Mr Frydenberg told Sky News.

According to the poll, if the election were held today Labor would win 80 seats in parliament – picking up 12 from the Coalition and winning a five-seat majority.

Blue-ribbon Liberal seats in Melbourne, Kooyong and Goldstein, would fall to independents which have received funding from Climate 200.

Mr Frydenberg says he’s not taking the poll as gospel.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg – with former Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu – says he’s been buoyed by the positive feedback he’s been getting at pre-poll booths. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

“We know that from last time around when people wrote us off, yet the Australian people produced a very different result,” Mr Frydenberg said,

“There are many – as the Prime Minister calls them – quiet Australians out there.

“John Howard called them his battlers. Sir Robert Menzies called them the forgotten people, and in the United Kingdom they’re called the ‘shy Tory’.

“Essentially, these are people who may not answer every poll or phone call … they are going about their daily lives … and they know that Scott Morrison and the Coalition have been better economic managers.”

Mr Frydenberg said he had been “very disappointed” to hear former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, had pushed for disenfranchised Liberals to turn away from the Coalition and support independents.

“Monique Ryan had called Malcolm Turnbull a national disgrace, and I doubt that Malcolm would want to back someone in that’s called him a national disgrace,” he said.

“I’m very focused on winning my seat, but more importantly than that, the coalition retaining government – we have a very strong case for re-election.”

Teal independents, especially Monique Ryan in Kooyong and Zoe Daniel in Goldstein could clinch blue-ribbon seats off the Morrison government. Picture: Simone Schroeder

Based on a sample size of almost 19,000 voters across the country, the YouGov poll revealed

losses for the Coalition could be broad, including four seats in Victoria, two in NSW, two in WA, and one each in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.

A further six seats are considered too close to call.

The Coalition would need a late swing toward it of at least three per cent in key seats to retain power.

Labor’s campaign spokesman Jason Clare said while he was “sceptical” about the polls, he got the sense “people have had it up to their back teeth with Scott Morrison”.

“(People) are sick of the lies, the rorts, the excuses and the incompetence,” Mr Clare told the Nine Network.

“(People) want something better. We can make child care cheaper, we can fix aged care, we can make Medicare stronger, and we can make it easier to buy a home.”

Originally published as Josh Frydenberg says Morrison government putting faith in ‘quiet majority’