Idea raised in cabinet and leadership group discussions about difficulty of getting legislation through the Senate

Tony Abbott has canvassed the possibility of a double dissolution election with his cabinet and his leadership group, despite the Coalition trailing 45% to 55% on a two party preferred basis in the latest Newspoll.

Guardian Australia has been told the idea of going to a double dissolution election later in the year was raised at a dinner following Monday afternoon’s cabinet meeting.

Some ministers were very surprised the issue was raised even as a possibility, given the government’s political situation. One described it as a “bizarrely bad” idea.

It was raised in a general discussion in the context of the Coalition’s inability to get major changes through the Senate. After its higher education proposals were voted down on Monday, education minister Christopher Pyne vowed to bring the bill back in the same form, and Abbott said on Wednesday the government would “have another go at this”. The government has also indicated it could bring back the fair work (registered organisations) legislation which was voted down in early March.

Calling a double dissolution to break a parliamentary deadlock between the houses requires that a bill must be rejected twice, with three months in between the two votes, meaning the higher education and fair work bills could potentially become triggers by late June.

The government already has two double dissolution election triggers, but is unlikely to use either. One is the clean energy finance corporation abolition bill and the other is the clean energy income tax rates and other measures amendment bill – which seeks to repeal the second round of tax cuts associated with the former government’s carbon tax.

Double dissolution elections are much more often threatened than held. The last was in 1987. They also mean the quota to get elected to the Senate halves, making it easier for senators from small parties to win office, possibly increasing the difficulty of passing legislation.

Abbott complained to his party room on Monday about the “feral” Senate and said his government had reverted to “upping the tempo” of smaller announcements that did not need Senate approval. Major elements of the 2014 budget, including the $7 Medicare co-payment, changes to welfare payments for the under-30s and new inflation arrangements for pensions have either been voted down by the Senate or have stalled in the face of likely Senate opposition.

The attorney general, George Brandis, said on Wednesday the Senate was behaving like a “house of refusal” instead of a “house of review”.

“The Senate … should be a chamber of review, a house of review not a house of refusal,” Brandis said.

“Yet time and time again at the insistence of the Labor party and the Greens, to which, I’m sorry to say, the crossbench senators on occasions have joined, have blocked important legislation,” he said.

Abbott has been trying to dispel the impression that the government’s budget agenda is failing. There was “no cause for alarm” under his government “because we have got the budget situation from out of control to manageable”.

His optimism was based on the intergenerational report, which found already legislated policies brought the budget somewhere close to balance in 2020 before rapidly increasing deficits.

The same Treasury officials who prepared that report told a parliamentary committee Australia would not reach a surplus over the next 40 years unless the government passed last year’s budget measures or found new savings to offset those blocked by the Senate.

A Lonergan poll published by Guardian Australia found the performance of the federal Coalition was hindering its NSW counterparts as the 28 March state poll approached.

Asked if the recent performance of Tony Abbott would impact on their likelihood of voting for the Liberal party in the state election, 43% reported the prime minister’s performance would make them less likely to vote Liberal.

The “Abbott factor” was particularly marked among young voters, with 56% of 18 to 34 year olds reporting they were less likely to vote Liberal. Abbott had more support within senior voters, with 50% of those over 65 reporting they would be more likely to vote Liberal and 30% less likely.

A spokesman for the prime minister’s office said the government intended to serve its full term.