Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the Abbott government's political disarray is having a direct effect on the economy and jobs.
The Liberal party suffered a fresh voter backlash in a South Australian state by-election at the weekend, compounding its defeat in the Victorian state election and poor national polling.
The latest Ipsos poll published by Fairfax on Monday put Labor ahead of the coalition 52-48 per cent in two-party terms, while Mr Shorten leads Tony Abbott 47-39 per cent as preferred prime minister.
Mr Shorten told reporters in Adelaide that government disarray was harming jobs.
Policies such as paring back the renewable energy target and cutting car industry assistance threatened the livelihoods of workers, he said.
There were real challenges for employment in Australia, Mr Shorten said on a visit to a solar factory.
"Disarray in the Abbott government is causing harmful effects on the employment prospects of Australians."
The jobless rate is forecast to rise to a 12-year high of 6.3 per cent when the latest monthly results are released on Thursday.
But Mr Abbott, whose own job is the subject of speculation, said his was not the first government to have a "rough patch".
"I am not the first leader to be subject to a bit of speculation," he said.
Having flagged a reshuffle by the next election, Mr Abbott came under fire from government MPs, who also accused Defence Minister David Johnston of jeopardising votes.
Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs said Senator Johnston's comment that he wouldn't trust shipbuilder ASC to "build a canoe" in the lead-up to the by-election was "very, very unhelpful".
"People, I think rightly, expect us to be empathetic and that comment was not that," he said.
Fellow Liberal MP Andrew Southcott said federal issues played a part in the outcome.
Mr Abbott has listed government's successes as stopping asylum seeker boat arrivals, scrapping the carbon and mining taxes and sealing a free trade agreement with China.
"I don't say everything's been perfect, and obviously there are some things that I would wish otherwise, but I believe we've kept faith with the people and delivered on our commitments," he said.
The prime minister dismissed as gossip a report that he initially knocked back a request from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to attend this week's UN climate talks in Peru.
Ms Bishop confirmed the request had been made in an interview with the Australian Financial Review.
"In the end, these are matters between nations, so we're sending our foreign affairs team to deal with it," Mr Abbott said.
The prime minister intends to use the summer break to rework his paid parental leave scheme, which will be woven into childcare system changes to become a "holistic families package".
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