Tony Abbott had some detailed advice for his MPs and senators at Tuesday’s party room meeting about their interactions with journalists.

First, he said, they should talk about all the good things the government had done so far. When they finished, they should remind the journalist how bad Bill Shorten was. Then they should end the conversation.

The advice came as Abbott told his party room the government was changing focus from the policies it has been unable to get through the “feral Senate” to smaller things that are “meaningful” to the person on the street.

With the government’s higher education changes facing imminent Senate defeat, and other central elements of last year’s budget – including the GP copayment and welfare changes – also stalled due to Senate opposition, the prime minister insisted the government must nevertheless present a “glass half full” message by pointing to the smaller things it had been able to get done.

He told Tuesday’s party room the government had “lifted the tempo” of policy announcements that did not require Senate approval, citing recent ones on foreign investment in real estate, country of origin labelling on food, a voluntary code of conduct for supermarkets and an announcement to be made this week regarding unclaimed deposits in bank accounts.

The focus was “changing from things we struggled with because of the feral Senate to things we can achieve without the Senate”, Abbott said, according to a party spokesman.

MPs also raised concerns about the policy to move to a usually less-generous annual increase in the age pension, which has already been publicly criticised by Queensland backbenchers and Warren Entsch.

The social security minister, Scott Morrison, who has floated a plan to check the adequacy of the pension every three years once the new indexation arrangements take effect, told MPs they needed to get the message out that pensions were still rising, with the next increase due to take effect Friday.