Malcolm Turnbull has praised his predecessor Tony Abbott as Labor played up lingering instability in the coalition.
Mr Abbott sat on the parliamentary backbench on Monday for the first time since 1995, having been ousted by Mr Turnbull in a party room ballot last month.
Labor leader Bill Shorten opened question time asking Mr Turnbull why he had overthrown Mr Abbott when he had such admiration for the former prime minister.
"(Mr Abbott was) a leader who took us out of opposition, took on the Labor Party, brought to an end ... the most dysfunctional government in Australia's history," Mr Turnbull told parliament.
"We have done great things together."
Mr Abbott, who sat next to his former treasurer Joe Hockey, spent question time replying to a tall pile of correspondence - only occasionally looking up.
Labor frontbencher Catherine King, whose parliamentary office is across from Mr Abbott's new backbench rooms, said the opposition was well aware of how problems linger after leadership changes.
"Our experience in government with changes to leadership is this doesn't go away," she said.
The first Newspoll after a three-week parliamentary break puts the coalition and Labor at 50-50 in two-party terms.
But Mr Turnbull leads Mr Shorten as the preferred prime minister by 57-19 per cent.
And nearly two out of three people polled believe the Liberal Party did the right thing in ditching Tony Abbott as leader.
Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon said it had been a short honeymoon for Mr Turnbull.
"We trust people will notice Tony Abbott sitting up the back there as a constant reminder of the instability that sits just under the surface in the coalition parties," Mr Fitzgibbon told ABC television.
Mr Shorten, who marks two years as opposition leader on Tuesday, is Labor's seventh leader in 10 years.
Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne said the past two years had been wasted by the opposition.
"They haven't done that deep thinking that oppositions need to do about why they ended up in opposition and what they need to change about their policies and their approach," he told Sky News.
"Labor has been coasting."
Labor frontbencher Michelle Rowland said the fact that the latest Newspoll had the two major parties level-pegging showed hard work had been done.
"Let's remember this: Bill Shorten has already seen off one prime minister in this term," she said.
"He's already made sure that Labor is in a most competitive position after a devastating loss in 2013."
Mr Turnbull will seek to ease tension with coalition partner The Nationals on Wednesday, when he meets with Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce to discuss taking the water portfolio from the environment department.
Some Nationals are wary of the new prime minister's commitment to delivering all of the promises made to the junior government partner.
But Mr Joyce said he was certain the agreement would be honoured.
"This is crucial for how the coalition works," Mr Joyce told ABC radio.
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