Malcolm Turnbull was under no illusions as he made a campaign-style visit to a Canberra business on Monday morning following a terrible Newspoll.

But he may be succumbing to another.

The event, at a bottle recycling plant in Canberra's industrial precinct of Hume, would illustrate the government's defining theme through to the next election: the "risks" of soaring electricity prices and plummeting reliability inherent in Labor's renewables mix.

Flanking Turnbull was his Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, and the ACT's only federal Liberal, Assistant Minister Zed Seselja. Both are gifted advocates for the government - as currently configured - despite being former Abbott men from the party's right wing.