Peter Dutton concedes Labor ‘on track’ for election win, while Andrew Hastie sees the irony

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie says the PM needs to accept that he will lose 30 straight Newspolls and embrace the irony.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should acknowledge the irony if he racks up as many bad opinion polls as Tony Abbott had when he was rolled from the leadership, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie says.

Mr Turnbull used 30 consecutive Newspoll losses as a reason for ousting Mr Abbott in September 2015, and is expected to achieve the same unenviable milestone when a new poll comes out next week.

“Just acknowledging the irony is probably a good way forward ... take it on the chin. That’s all he can do,” the Member for Canning, a firm friend and ally of Mr Abbott, said on Thursday.

“I think Australian people enjoy people being just frank and honest about the situation.” Mr Abbott raised eyebrows last week when he planted a kiss on the cheek of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson at her book launch and said “you are always better the second time around”, fuelling speculation he plans a comeback, but Mr Hastie said he couldn’t see that happening.

“I don’t think anyone’s entertaining the prospect of Tony returning,” the former SAS commander said.

“He’s a good friend, I’ve learned a lot from him but I believe in stable government.

“I know there’s no chatter.” Having been promoted to chair the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security, Mr Hastie said he was in “no hurry to create any sort of trouble”.

AAP

Dutton concedes possibility of Shorten government

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton conceded Australia is “on track for a Shorten-led government”, ahead of next week’s Newspoll.

Mr Dutton, who has been touted as a potential leadership alternative, repledged his loyalty to Malcolm Turnbull days before the Prime Minister’s expected 30th Newspoll loss.

He said a week was a long time in politics and things could change, but he blamed an uncooperative Senate, inherited debt, and “problems around personal issues” for taking oxygen out of the government’s message.

“I’ve been in politics for 16 or 17 years, and I’ve watched, particularly over the Howard years where things can change,” Mr Dutton told 2GB this morning.

“As they say, a week’s a long time, a days’ a long time in politics. That is the reality.

“Now we’re up against it at the moment, but we’ve got a good story to tell in terms of the management of the economy.

“Yes, we inherited enormous debt and we want to be doing more in terms of putting more into different areas of public policy, but we inherited a large debt, we’ve got a Senate that is near impossible to work with, to try and get the changes through to deliver the savings or put the budget back on a path to surplus.

“I think we’ve done a remarkable job with the economy though, to be honest.

“I think though, over the course of the last couple of years, the dramas in the Senate, the problems around personal issues and all the rest of that has taken a lot of oxygen out of the message.”

Mr Dutton said he took loyalty to Mr Turnbull as leader seriously. “I accepted an offer from Tony Abbott when he was prime minister to be in his cabinet, and I only did so on the basis of loyalty to the leader,” he said.

“If I can’t be loyal to the leader, then my judgment is I resign.

“Now I’ve accepted the same commission from this Prime Minister and I do it on the basis of loyalty as well, and I need to work as part of a team to turn it around.

“The work we’re doing to in trying to make energy prices cheaper, trying to manage our borders, all of that is important, but as you say, at the moment we’re on track for a Shorten-led government and that would be a disaster.”

Asked whether there would come a point when members of the cabinet would have to leave a sinking ship, Mr Dutton said:

“As I say, from my perspective I don’t serve in the cabinet if I can’t be loyal, and I think that as a team, we can defeat Shorten.

“I think there is a huge hesitation and a proper hesitation within the public’s mind about who Shorten is, what he represents. The people behind him are all the same people that served on the front bench for Rudd and Gillard.

“Yes, the boats would restart. There’s no question about that. They’re already agitating to change that policy and it would be a disaster, and they’re sorts of decisions that people will need to contemplate, the sorts of issues that people need to consider before they make a judgment at the next election.”

It has emerged Mr Abbott will be touring through the Latrobe Valley on Monday when the latest Newspoll is published in The Australian. Its release coincides with his annual Pollie Pedal charity bike ride which aims to raise $500,000 for Soldier On.

As the prime minister faces pressure from a group of backbenchers to consider the importance of coal-fired power in ongoing energy policy, his predecessor noted the Victorian region had been a wonderful source of cheap, reliable power.

Asked about Mr Abbott’s plans for Monday, cabinet minister Steve Ciobo this morning said the former prime minister’s movements would gain media attention whether he was on a pushbike or in Canberra.

The former prime minister is a member of the Monash Forum, a group of Coalition MPs who are calling for a $4 billion taxpayer investment in reopening the Hazelwood coal-fired power station.

Mr Abbott’s annual charity bike ride is due to pass the site of the closed mine on Monday, just as the Prime Minister is likely to hit the same poll loss milestone he used as justification for ousting Mr Abbott in 2015.

The prime minister this week said he was “very” confident he continues to have the support of his coalition colleagues for the leadership, with about 12 months to go until the next federal election.