Opposition Leader Tony Abbott starts day two of the parliamentary sitting with a new climate change policy and a comfortable lift in the polls.
Even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who encountered Mr Abbott at the traditional pre-parliament church service, remarked on his good result in the polls.
The coalition was up two points and the government down by the same margin on the two-party preferred basis. Mr Rudd said there was no guarantee first-term governments were a shoo-in at the next federal election.
"Look what happened to the Hawke government back in 1984, very close-run thing, the Howard government in 1998, a very close-run thing," he told ABC Radio.
Only three people out of 100 needed to change their minds in order for Mr Abbott to become prime minister, Mr Rudd said. But first the public will have to make up its mind on Mr Abbott's climate change action plan, which he released on Tuesday.
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Just a day old and it's been labelled a phony policy that fails to reach its own target of a five per cent reduction in emissions by 2020.
Mr Abbott says it rewards green initiatives, rather than punishing polluters. Climate change remains the hot issue in 2010.
As promised, the government has re-introduced its emissions trading scheme to parliament for the third time, where yet another Senate showdown looms.
