Newspoll: Coalition gains ground on Labor with Turnbull still preferred prime minister

COALITION MPs have been given a warning as Malcolm Turnbull got an unexpected lift from Aussie voters in the latest Newspoll.

PM Malcolm Turnbull has received a boost from Aussie voters in the latest Newspoll. Picture Kym Smith

MALCOLM Turnbull has received a significant boost from Australian voters in the latest Newspoll with the Coalition regaining some of the ground it had lost.

The last Newspoll, conducted by The Australian, showed Labor in front by 55 to 45 per cent. The numbers are now 53 to 47 per cent.

In other good news for Mr Turnbull, he has increased his lead over Bill Shorten as the country’s preferred prime minister with the gap now at 39 to 33 per cent.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull listens as Barnaby Joyce claims his victory in the New England by-election over the weekend. Picture: AAP/Tracey Nearmy

It halts a rocky few months for the government as parliament begins again on Monday with same sex marriage and citizenship questions facing many MPs on the agenda.

The Coalition’s primary vote has improved from 34 to 36 per cent over three weeks.

‘DON’T KNIFE A SITTING PM’

A second poll released today shows an overwhelming 71 per cent of Australians back allowing a Prime Minister to govern for a full term, rather than being replaced before an election.

The number spikes to 80 per cent among Coalition voters, the Fairfax-Ipsos poll shows.

It comes as speculation mounts that Mr Turnbull could face a leadership challenge before the next election.

His position has become increasingly unstable as his deadline of 30 Newspoll losses in a row approaches.

It took an extra hit last week when he backflipped on the government’s stance on a banking royal commission following internal pressure from the National party and a request from the banks.

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester sent a clear warning this morning to any National party colleagues who wanted to speak out against the Coalition leadership team after the royal commission push and after George Christensen outed himself yesterday as the MP who threatened to quit unless Mr Turnbull was replaced as Prime Minister.

George Christensen leaving Question Time in Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

He rejected suggestions the Nationals as a whole had gone rogue while saying he strongly backed Barnaby Joyce and Malcolm Turnbull.

“There’s been three or four National Party colleagues who have been speaking out but that’s out of a party room of 21 so the vast majority has been rock solid in support of the leadership team,” he told ABC this morning.

His message to colleagues was: “Before you open your mouth, think for a second — how is this going to make sure that we can stay in Government and keep delivering everything we

said we’d deliver in the last election ... or is what you’re about to say going to help Bill Shorten walk into the Lodge?”

On Mr Turnbull’s leadership, he said: “I think he’s doing a good job in difficult circumstances.”

“He’s worked his way through hard issues in the last few months and hopefully we’ll get through this week and tie up some more issues and get on with delivering everything we said we’d deliver to the Australian people,” Mr Chester said.

Bill Shorten saw his party lose ground to the Coalition. Picture: AAP/David Mariuz

Mr Turnbull yesterday spoke to The Australian about the “tough issues” facing the government.

“When you mark down what we have achieved, you can see that step by step, we’re getting barnacles off the boat, we’re making real changes resulting in real jobs and real investment,” the Prime Minister said.

He said he didn’t “run the government based on the Newspoll” and said nobody could claim he had broken any election promises.

“I have every confidence, every confidence, that I will lead the Coalition to the next election in 2019 and we will win it, because we are putting in place the policies that will deliver for the Australian people,” he said.

The latest Newspoll reveals more bad news for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Labor retains a strong lead over the Coalition and would take power with an advantage of more than a dozen seats if the latest Newspoll was repeated at an election, but the new figures show an improvement for Mr Turnbull and his government after weeks of terrible results.

But it’s more bad news for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party after it captured a single seat in the Queensland election, it has seen its federal primary vote fall from 10 to 8 per cent as some voters swung back to the Coalition.

Labor has fallen to a primary vote of 37 per cent, down one percentage points over three weeks, while the Greens have increased their support by the same amount to 10 per cent.

The latest result is a rare lift in the Coalition’s primary vote this year, on par with a two-point gain at the end of August but smaller than its three-point gain in late February.