THE Coalition government has lost its 29th consecutive Newspoll, trailing Labor 47-53 on a two-party preferred basis.

It brings Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull closer to the symbolically significant 30th poll which he cited as one of his reasons for toppling Tony Abbott in 2015.

The latest Newspoll published in The Australian also shows Labor has boosted its primary vote to 39 per cent against the Coalition’s unchanged 37 per cent.

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Labor’s first preference vote has not been as high since Mr Turnbull ousted Mr Abbott in September 2015, the newspaper reported.

The poll also lifted Mr Shorten’s satisfaction rating to 34 per cent, two points ahead Mr Turnbull’s 32 per cent.

But the PM was still the county’s preferred leader, leading opposition leader Bill Shorten 39-36.

The Greens’ and One Nation’s primary votes remained unchanged at nine per cent and seven per cent, respectively.

The ABC’s 730 host Leigh Sales interrogated Mr Turnbull earlier this month over the poll benchmark he set to punt Tony Abbott as PM.

Mr Abbott called out the PM in a radio interview last week: “It was the Prime Minister that set the test, if he fails the test it will be the Prime Minister who has to explain why the test was right for one and not right for the other. It will be up to him to tell us all why the test doesn’t apply in his case.”

Sales asked him directly: “When you challenged Tony Abbott for that prime ministership, one of the reasons you cited was he lost 30 Newspolls in a row.”

Mr Turnbull was quick to respond, arguing: “The only test that determines whether you lead the Liberal Party or not is having the support of the party room.”

But Sales didn’t back down there, shooting back: “But come on, everyone knows what you said. He’s outlined a pretty legitimate question there. Why is what was good for the goose not good for the Gander?”

Turnbull replied: “The party room determines who leads the Liberal Party. Why didn’t it apply to you, yourself? What should apply to you?”

“The same standard you applied to Tony Abbott,” Sales quipped.

“If you don’t intend to step down, or open a leadership spill when you hit the 30, what do you intend to do? You set that standard,” she added.

Turnbull argued Australia needed new leadership.

“Leigh, when I challenged Tony Abbott, I identified a number of things. The country, the government needed new economic leadership, right? And it needed a return to traditional cabinet government,” he said.

“I have delivered both. You want a test for good economic leadership? I think the strongest jobs growth in our nation’s history probably passes the test.

“Traditional cabinet government, I think that everyone in Canberra would agree that’s what I’m conducting.

”As far as the leadership of the Liberal Party is concerned, it is as John Howard always said, in the gift of the party room. That’s the test.”

Ms Sales still didn’t let the issue go, asking the PM if he regretted using Newspolls to target Abbott.

“It was an observation I made in the course of mounting a challenge,” the PM said.

“Others are free to refer to it. The leadership of the Liberal Party is determined by the party room.

“It’s not determined by Newspoll, it’s not determined by the 7.30 Report, it’s determined by the party room.”

- with AAP