Ray Hadley notes that Coalition has lost 10 Newspolls in a row and asks when the PM will decide he ‘better just pass the baton’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Peter Dutton has accepted that the government’s continued poor performance in polls affects Malcolm Turnbull’s hold on the leadership, and that the prime minister would also accept the point.

The immigration minister conceded the link in an interview on 2GB Radio on Thursday in which he criticised the Coalition’s performance in the 2016 election for failing to counter Labor scare campaigns on Medicare.

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The comments came as Guardian Australia reported that the election campaign review conducted by Andrew Robb found that the Liberals were outgunned on the ground by Labor and progressive activist groups, and failed to develop a strategy to neutralise or rebut key attack themes, including the so-called “Mediscare” campaign.

The broadcaster Ray Hadley noted that the Turnbull government has lost 10 Newspolls in a row and asked at what stage the prime minister would conclude he had “better just pass the baton to someone else”.

“What happens after five more, he gets to 15 – does he say then enough is enough?” he asked, noting that Turnbull cited Tony Abbott’s loss in 30 consecutive polls as part of his justification to challenge for the leadership.

Dutton replied: “Well, Ray, that’s a fair point and Malcolm Turnbull wouldn’t step back from that point.

“What we need to do is to turn polls around if that’s the measure we have to make tough decisions as the Howard government did, as the Abbott government did.”

The latest Guardian Essential opinion survey has Labor comfortably ahead of the Coalition on the two-party-preferred measure, with Labor on 53% and the Coalition on 47%, which is the same result as this week’s Newspoll survey.

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Dutton argued that the government was not popular because it had to manage record debt levels in the budget and the Senate was made up of independents.

“Labor and Greens vote together to block legislation, it’s not an easy time to deal with the Senate or the debt that we’ve got, much easier if you’re spending money and making people happy.

“But ultimately people recognise that yes they’ve made tough decisions but they’ve been for the right reason.”

In response to an earlier question, Dutton noted that John Howard had defeated Kim Beazley and Mark Latham at the 2001 and 2004 elections despite trailing in two-party-preferred and preferred prime minister measures.

He suggested the government could turn its fortunes around by warning that if Bill Shorten were elected unions, including the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, would be “in control”.

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“When the decision that counts is made on election day, I believe people will support the government.”

Dutton said a focus on policy like the government’s small business tax cuts and the prospect that Labor could unwind them would help draw attention away from Labor’s “scare campaigns”.

“One of the things we didn’t do at the last election was neutralise the GetUp and the Labor party’s scare campaigns on Medicare and otherwise,” he added.

“It’s easy to scare people in politics and Shorten has mastered it. And we have to expose it and if we do that and continue to do that in the run-up to the election then we will see the polls turn around.”