Newspoll: Biggest lead for Labor in Malcolm Turnbull era

FORMER prime minister Tony Abbott has ruled out a return to the leadership, as the Coalition’s popularity takes a battering.

The Coalition’s primary vote has tumbled below 40 per cent for the first time under Malcolm ­Turnbull’s prime ministership. Picture: Mick Tsikas.

FORMER prime minister Tony Abbott has declared his leadership ambitions are “dead, buried and cremated”, as the Coalition’s popularity collapsed under crippling Newspoll results.

Labor has a two-party preferred lead of four percentage points over the Coalition whose primary vote has dipped below 40 per cent for the first time under Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, the latest Newspoll shows.

That’s lower than where Mr Abbott was when he was dumped as leader a year ago, the poll for The Australian reveals.

It shows Labor has a two-party-preferred lead of 52 per cent to the Coalition’s 48 per cent — the Opposition’s biggest lead since Mr Turnbull took power.

Mr Turnbull remains the preferred prime minister over Bill Shorten, but less than a third of voters are satisfied with his performance and more than a half are dissatisfied.

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Malcolm Turnbull remains the preferred prime minister over Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Picture: Joel Carrett.

Malcolm Turnbull is losing voters’ confidence with disastrous Newspoll results, showing Labor are inching ahead.

The poll shows the Coalition’s primary vote has fallen three points in the past fortnight to 38 per cent and is down four points since the election 12 weeks ago.

Speaking to 3AW Melbourne, Mr Abbott said he thought the government had a “pretty good week” despite poor polling.

“The Prime Minister has been at the UN showcasing our border protection, which is the gold standard,” he said.

But Mr Abbott said his leadership ambitions were “dead, buried and cremated”.

Six years ago at Melbourne’s 3AW radio studio, Mr Abbott signed a “contract” declaring Work Choices “dead, buried and cremated”.

Today he referenced the declaration he made as opposition leader, stating they were appropriate words to describe his situation as a backbench member of the Liberal party and any rumoured plot to recover his old job.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has ruled out a return to the helm of the Liberal Party.

“I used the phrase here in your studio about five years ago. I said dead, buried and cremated and that’s probably not a bad phrase in this context as well,” he said.

But the former prime minister stopped short of signing another “contract” declaring an Abbott leadership dead one year after he was toppled by Mr Turnbull.

Mr Abbott said he is keeping busy and does not expect to be invited back to the frontbench, but admits losing the nation’s top job still hurts.

“I guess you always carry around the scar tissue from these things,” Mr Abbott said.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told ABC News the Newspoll result was “no surprise”.

“I think that Bill Shorten is cutting through with the voters, I think saw that in the way in which Labor went within one seat of winning the election on July 2, and the Newspoll result is no surprise to me,” he said.

Malcolm Turnbull remains the preferred prime minister over Bill Shorten, but less than a third of voters are satisfied with his performance.

“It is the product of a government that does not know where it’s going, that lacks vision, that is divided in itself, that is breaking its promises all over the place, and I would expect that

trajectory will continue unless this government can actually work out what it is there for.

“It could start by doing something about marriage equality.”

Mr Abbott accused Labor of not being “fair dinkum” about same-sex marriage and using the issue as a political weapon by not accepting the government’s election mandate and supporting legislation to set up a national vote.

Labor will decide its final position when caucus meets on October 11 but leader Bill Shorten is expected to recommend MPs oppose the plebiscite.

The government insists it still wants to hear proposals from Labor on changing the proposed national vote after an attempt to break a deadlock failed.

Attorney-General George Brandis said he asked Mr Dreyfus nine times at a meeting on Monday what the opposition wanted in order to support the plebiscite plan but got no answer.

In the final Newspoll under Mr Abbott’s leadership in September last year, the Coalition’s primary vote was 39 per cent.

Primary support for Labor has risen one point in the past fortnight to 37 per cent, while the Greens have gained one point to 10 per cent and other parties and independents have climbed a combined one point to 15 per cent.