The Turnbull Government would have a better chance of winning the next election if it reduces the flow of immigration to Australia, according to former prime minister Tony Abbott.

The former Liberal leader told Radio 2GB the Coalition could reverse its recent poor performance in opinion polls by following his advice on immigration and climate change policy.

“In the coming year, we can take the pressure off housing prices and make it easier for locals to get jobs by perhaps scaling back immigration,” Mr Abbott told the Sydney radio network, where he is regularly interviewed.

He said the government would “get credit” in an election for cracking down on immigration levels.

“Further scaling back our climate change preoccupation” would also be rewarded by voters at the ballot box, Mr Abbott said.

The former prime minister was discussing the Turnbull Government’s string of 25 consecutive losses to Labor in the Newspoll opinion poll.

Recommended reading Australian immigration study tour for European journalists cost government $100k

When Mr Turnbull replaced Mr Abbott as prime minister in a leadership spill in 2015, he referred to Mr Abbott’s string of 29 losses previously in the poll to justify the need for the change.

Mr Abbott also said the “overwhelming majority of migrants” who came to Australia were “here not to change us but to join us.”

The former prime minister often makes public suggestions on how the Turnbull Government could recover its popularity, often in radio interviews.