A senior government minister has delivered a warning to Malcolm Turnbull that the public "clearly" wants a change in direction if he is to hold onto being Prime Minister.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said even Mr Turnbull would acknowledge the impact Newspoll is having on his leadership and the Coalition must “listen” to the shift taking place.
“What we need to do is to turn polls around, if that’s the measure, we have to make tough decisions,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio.
Mr Turnbull blamed Tony Abbott’s opinion polls numbers as one of the reasons for challenging him for the top job back in September 2015.
“We have lost 30 Newspolls in a row. It is clear that the people have made up their mind about Mr Abbott’s leadership,” he said at the time.
But after winning the election with only a one seat buffer, Mr Turnbull’s track record is now 10 consecutive Newspoll losses.
“What happens after five more, he gets to 15 does he say then enough is enough? Because he raised the spectre on that day of Newspoll being a measure of the fact that he was challenging for the Prime Ministership,” 2GB radio’s Ray Hadley asked of the Immigration Minister.
Peter Dutton responded that the radio host had made “a fair point”.
The Immigration Minister said while the public is pleased and supportive of the Coalition’s approach to national security and border security – policy he’s in charge of – it must “listen” to the shift taking place among the community to change direction.
On a two-party preferred basis, the Coalition is trailing Labor by 47 to 53 per cent, despite passing half of its company tax cuts package in the Senate last Friday.
“Labor and Greens vote together to block legislation, it’s not an easy time to deal with the Senate or the debt that we’ve got, much easier if you’re spending money and making people happy,” Mr Dutton said.
