Turnbull says Coalition can still win the election, vows to attack Shorten’s ‘anti-jobs’ platform

Malcolm Turnbull accepts blame for 30 Newspoll losses, says the election is there to be won, but warns the main threat is a perception of disunity.

The Prime Minister says he believes he can perform better as leader.

Malcolm Turnbull has accepted responsibility for 30 successive Newspoll losses, says the “elec­toral contest is very close and the election is there to be won” — but warns the main threat to the government is the perception of internal disunity.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian when told yesterday of the Newspoll results, the Prime Minister said he believed he could perform better as leader and that he would frame the next election around Labor’s “high-tax, anti-investment and hence anti-jobs” platform.

Mr Turnbull said media speculation about his leadership was at odds with his support from the partyroom. “You have asked me: do I have the confidence of my ­colleagues and my answer to that is ‘yes’,’’ he said. “I don’t think there is anyone, frankly, suggesting that I don’t.”

Invoking John Howard on unity, Mr Turnbull said: “Does the appearance of disunity hurt us electorally? Yes. The single biggest electoral negative that we face and which distracts from the government’s very substantial achievements is the appearance of disunity.

“As John Howard said — and I am happy to quote him — everyone has an obligation to promote unity and discipline, everyone, every member of the partyroom.

“We are in a close, tight political ­environment. The election is absolutely there is to be won. My job is not to be distracted by polls, but to focus on our policies and on delivering for the Australian ­people.”

Mr Turnbull made clear his message till election day would be to frame Bill Shorten’s Labor. “I think Australians understand that Labor is now in a position where it could very readily form a government and that enables us to frame the risk,” he said. “How does a high-taxing, anti-business government ensure that you will keep your job, that your kids will get a job or that you will get a better job? The answer is, it can’t.”

Malcolm Turnbull's Newspoll fortunes have fallen since 2016.

Mr Turnbull conceded his mistake in using 30 Newspoll losses when he challenged Tony Abbott in September 2015. “Well, yes, I agree it was a mistake,” he said. “It was a mistake to refer to that. I wish I hadn’t.” He said “everybody” at the time knew the poll results.

Pressed on the issue of disunity, Mr Turnbull said: “You’re really asking me about Tony Abbott, let’s be frank. Tony Abbott is a former prime minister who said after he lost the prime ministership there would be no sniping, no backbiting, no undermining. He is a very experienced political player. I don’t ask for anything other than to say every member of the partyroom should be very conscious that anything that contributes to or is seen to contribute to a lack of unity is unhelpful for the government.”

Asked if his own performance as leader could improve given 30 Newspoll losses, Mr Turnbull said: “I’ll keep working at it. I am sure I can. There’s always plenty of scope for improvement.”

Did he accept responsibility for the Newspoll losses? “I have to ­accept responsibility for everything the government does.”

Asked why the judgment on himself after 30 Newspoll losses should not be the same as the judgment on Mr Abbott, the Prime Minister said he had delivered on the substance of his September 2015 pledges.

“I said we needed to deliver better economic leadership and I have done that,” he said. “My justification for saying that is record jobs growth in difficult times. Second, I said I would restore traditional cabinet government and I have done that. My job is to govern, to deliver on our policies, to ensure we continue to create more jobs and more opportunities. We have just seen the largest growth in jobs in any 12 months since records began. The alternative is a party that would put all of this at risk. That’s why it was important I became Prime Minister in 2015. I did deliver a second term. We won the election in 2016 and we will win the election next year.”

Referring to a Fairfax poll published on Saturday ahead of the 30th Newspoll loss, Mr Turnbull said just under three-quarters of Coalition voters, or 74 per cent, had said he should stay leader as opposed to backing a leadership change. He highlighted this to ­illustrate the support he enjoyed among Coalition voters — in contrast to much media commentary.

The 30th Newspoll showed Labor leading the Turnbull government 52-48 per cent in two-party-preferred terms, a reduction in the dominant recent trend of a six-percentage point lead based on 53-47 per cent. This is the same two-party-preferred result as the weekend Fairfax Ipsos poll.

The biggest difference between the polls — and observed by the Prime Minister — was the “better PM” question, with Newspoll showing Mr Turnbull holding a two-percentage-point lead over Mr Shorten while the Fairfax poll had his lead at 21 percentage points.

Mr Turnbull said: “I’ve seen there’s been a lot of criticism of Newspoll recently. I simply note — and I’m not a pollster and don’t want to get into a commentary on different polls — but the reality is there’s obviously differences in results. I note all the polls prior to the Bennelong by-election were wrong too, by the way. And if you relied on opinion polls I imagine we’d be dealing with premier Nick Xenophon from South Australia, not Steven Marshall.

“It is clear the electoral prospects of the government and opposition are very evenly matched. It is critically important to make sure that Australians understand the risk of a Labor ­government.”