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PM's honeymoon won't last: Labor

Labor MPs warn Malcolm Turnbull's honeymoon in the opinion polls won't last because he'll have to unveil his plans soon.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Labor MPs warn Malcolm Turnbull's honeymoon in the opinion polls won't last forever. (AAP)

Labor says Malcolm Turnbull's honeymoon won't last forever.

The latest Newspoll shows six out of 10 voters are satisfied with Mr Turnbull's performance.

Even more - 64 per cent - prefer him as prime minister over Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

But Labor says the shine will soon come off.

"Malcolm Turnbull can only tell people what they want to hear for so long, soon the prime minister is going to have to unveil his plan," Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth told reporters in Canberra.

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Colleague Catherine King, who has been an MP for 15 years, said the polls changed all the time and there was no point jumping around getting excited about them.

"One thing that politics has taught me is that things change very quickly," she said.

Labor powerbroker Sam Dastyari brushed off the chance of a leadership spill.

"Bill Shorten will not only lead Labor to the next election, he will win the next election."

Only 15 per cent of voters prefer Mr Shorten as the alternative prime minister, the lowest level for any ALP leader in more than a decade.

For his part the Labor leader rejected suggestions he should stand down.

"I'm going to keep working every day to make sure that Australians have the best possible choice when it comes to policies on climate change, jobs, education and health care," Mr Shorten told reporters.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said the prime minister was enjoying no more than a honeymoon.

"Malcolm Turnbull's whole pitch to the Australian people at the moment is 'my name's not Tony Abbott'," he told ABC radio.

"It's enough to give you a honeymoon, but it's not enough to win you an election."

Frontbench colleague Brendan O'Connor said Labor was unnerved about the poll results.

"We're not going back to the days of division, we will just not contemplate that," he told Sky News.

Government minister Jamie Briggs said voters had given up on listening to the negativity of Mr Shorten, telling Sky News the opposition leader had created a "great big hole of his own digging and his own making".


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



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