Malcolm Turnbull returned to Canberra after weeks away to find he's lost 29 Newspolls in a row, but the prime minister is staying upbeat.
The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian on Monday, shows the coalition trailing the opposition 47-53 on a two-party preferred basis.
Mr Turnbull was asked about the latest loss being "not good news", because it leaves him one shy of a 30th consecutive loss, which he cited as one reason for toppling Tony Abbott in 2015.
"Why are you smiling then if it is not good news?" he told the reporter who asked him on Monday.
"You are so pleased, I know why; because you are so happy about all of the jobs we have created. Because you are not distracted by polls."
Treasurer Scott Morrison also played down the significance of the result.
"If the polls were right then the Labor party would not be returned in Batman," he told Sky News.
"If the polls were right, South Australia would now have premier Nick Xenophon."
Mr Morrison said Australians cared more about the deficit being halved, unemployment falling and new jobs being created than poll numbers.
Fellow cabinet minister Simon Birmingham also downplayed the results.
"What will happen between now and whenever the federal election is, around the middle of next year, is Australians will become more acutely aware of the choices on the table," he told Sky News.
The latest poll showed Labor slightly improving its primary vote to 39 per cent against the government's 37 per cent.
The coalition has largely hovered around a 37 per cent primary vote since the start of 2017.
On the two-party preferred measure, it tied with Labor in the two polls after the July 2016 election but has come second in every one since.
