Poll hints at stay of execution for Abbott

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Photo / Dean Purcell

Liberal Party rebels were urged to "pull their heads in" yesterday after a second opinion poll within a week suggested that the Coalition's fortunes are improving.

Prospects of a fresh attempt this week to unseat Prime Minister Tony Abbott receded after publication of the Fairfax Ipsos poll, which showed Labor narrowing its lead over the Liberal-National Party Coalition to just two points - the latter's best result since last October.

Abbott loyalists hailed it as a sign that Australians want the Government to draw a line under its internal ructions, and that the Prime Minister - who narrowly survived a "spill" motion three weeks ago - should be given more time to recover.

Andrew Robb, the Trade Minister, told ABC radio that momentum for a change of leader was "dying, because the voters have spoken".

He said that Liberals agitating for Abbott to be deposed, and responsible for "putting out continued spurious leaks", were a small group. "These elusive unnamed colleagues have got a clear responsibility to the rest of the team and the country to pull their heads in."

However, while the latest poll - showing Coalition support at 49 per cent, compared with 51 per cent for Labor - appeared to deliver Abbott a stay of execution, pollsters and commentators said some of its findings were ominous.

They noted that despite a small rise in Abbott's personal ratings, he remains far behind Malcolm Turnbull, who was named as preferred prime minister by 39 per cent of voters, and behind Julie Bishop, his deputy, who is preferred by 24 per cent, compared with just 19 per cent for Abbott.

Equally worryingly for Abbott, only 21 per cent of Australians believe he has the confidence of his own party, compared with 52 per cent for Turnbull. And the Communications Minister rates more highly on each of nine other leadership attributes, including trustworthiness, competence and a firm grasp of economic policy.

Ipsos director Jessica Elgood told Fairfax Media: "Voters appear to already be factoring in Abbott's potential departure. They don't like him, prefer Turnbull and assume Abbott is not long in his job." This week, Abbott is expected to dump unpopular policies, such as the proposed A$5 ($5.16) charge for seeing a GP, introduce new national security laws into parliament, deliver a major report on the economy and announce the deployment of more Australian troops to Iraq, alongside New Zealand troops, to train government forces.

The Fairfax poll, which followed a Newspoll last week putting Labor ahead by 53 to 47 per cent, showed Abbott still behind the Labor leader Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister, but with the gap slashed from 16 points to five, with Shorten on 44 per cent.

Josh Frydenberg, the Assistant Treasurer and one of Abbott's closest allies, said some Liberals would never be satisfied with him in charge.

"If he delivered the Gettysburg Address, if he won a Nobel prize, they'd still take the position they'd want a change in leader," he told the ABC.