The federal government will end the final parliamentary sitting week of the year lagging in the polls and with Tony Abbott’s approval rating at a five-month low.



The Newspoll published in the Australian on Tuesday shows Labor leading the Coalition 54% to 46% on a two-party-preferred basis, compared with 55-45% in the previous poll a fortnight earlier.

After a week that the prime minister described as “ragged”, the proportion of people satisfied with Abbott’s performance dropped three points to 33%, the lowest level in five months.

About 57% expressed dissatisfaction with Abbott’s performance, up two points since the last survey. This equates to a net approval rating of minus 24 points.

The proportion of people satisfied with Bill Shorten’s performance as opposition leader remained steady at 39%, but his dissatisfaction rose two points to 43%. Shorten’s net approval rating is minus four points.

Shorten opened up a seven-point lead over Abbott as preferred prime minister.

The phone poll of 1,164 voters from Friday to Sunday followed a week of confusion about the status of government policies, such as the Medicare co-payment, and scrutiny of broken promises over ABC and SBS funding cuts.

Abbott also defended the position of the defence minister, David Johnston, over a remark that he would not trust the government-owned ship builder to build a canoe.

The federal Coalition’s unpopular budget policies were blamed for playing a role in the defeat of the Victorian state government on Saturday after a single term in office.

Abbott said on Tuesday the polls were “not so great”.

“But no one said that the task of budget repair would be easy,” he told Nine’s Today program.

“I think the Australian people can be very confident that they have had a good year is under their belt. We’re getting the fundamentals right and we are delivering for the people of Australia. I say to the people of Australia: we are delivering for you.”

Abbott conducted a 45-minute press conference on Monday in which he admitted it had been “a bit of a ragged week for the government” but insisted it had been “a year of very considerable achievement”.

The government is struggling to muster the required crossbench support to pass its bill deregulating university fees before the parliament rises on Thursday for the Christmas break.

The Coalition’s primary vote increased one point since the last survey to 37% while Labor’s vote dropped two points to 37% and support for the Greens rose two points to 13%. Support for others dropped one point to 13%.

The poll had a maximum margin of sampling error of 3%.