Tony Abbott says it's not fair to judge governments on voter surveys, as the Turnbull government continues to lag Labor in the latest Newspoll.
Three weeks after the coalition attempted to reset the political agenda by putting the Abbott era behind it with the May 9 budget, voters appear unmoved.
Labor continues to lead the coalition at 54 per cent to 47 per cent, after preferences. That's unchanged from a fortnight ago and little changed since late September 2016.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cited a run of 30 bad polls for the Abbott-led coalition as one of his reasons to depose him in 2015.
"I don't think it's fair to judge governments entirely by Newspoll," Mr Abbott told Sydney radio 2GB.
"It wasn't fair to judge my government by polls and now it's not fair to judge the Turnbull government entirely by the polls."
Monday's Newspoll is the 13th consecutive bad poll for the Turnbull-led coalition.
Mr Turnbull retains his lead - 45 per cent to 33 per cent - over Labor leader Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister.
Cabinet minister Josh Frydenberg pointed to another Newspoll finding, that voters thought the coalition would govern "in a way that's good for Australia".
"Feedback from both constituents and from colleagues has been very positive about the budget," he told Sky News.
"The Labor party might get excited but they've got a long time to wait until the next (election) campaign."
Labor senator Murray Watt wasn't surprised by the poll, published in The Australian.
"It doesn't take a Newspoll to let you know that this government is on the nose," he told reporters.
Primary vote support for the coalition and Labor also remained unchanged since the last Newspoll two weeks ago, with both on 36 per cent.
The new poll found 28 per cent of voters continued to prefer minor parties.
There was 10 per cent primary vote support for the Greens, nine per cent for One Nation and nine per cent for others, including the Nick Xenophon Team.
