It’s been a tense morning in Canberra thanks to Malcolm Turnbull’s 30th Newspoll loss in a row, and things are only getting more awkward following Tony Abbott’s frank chat with radio host Ray Hadley.
Appearing on Hadley’s 2GB program, Abbott questioned why Turnbull should be allowed to remain as prime minister after matching Abbott’s losing streak in the polls. Turnbull cited Abbott’s staggering 30 Newspoll loses in a row as one of the key factors for his ousting in 2015, and promised he would step down if he ever hit the same benchmark.
When asked why Turnbull should be allowed to stay on as prime minister, Abbott conceded it was a fair question and one he was asking himself.
“That’s a question that really should be posed to the person who made polls the metric. I never did make polls the metric,” he told Hadley. “I thought the important thing was winning elections and in two elections I took 25 seats off the Labor Party and that is what really counts not opinion polls.
“It really is something for Malcolm to explain, why it applied for me but shouldn’t apply now.
“The other issues that he sometimes cites, let me just deal with them Ray. He sometimes says it was necessary to get rid of the democratically elected Prime Minister to restore cabinet government, well I ran a perfectly orthodox cabinet government.
“The other point sometimes made is there was no clear economic narrative, well I completely reject that.”
On Sunday night, Turnbull told The Australian he had the confidence of his colleagues and would not be stepping down based on poll results alone.
“We are in a close, tight political environment,” he said. “The election is absolutely there is to be won. My job is not to be distracted by polls, but to focus on our policies and on delivering for the Australian people.”
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop backed up his claims in an interview with Sunrise this morning, telling hosts David Koch and Samantha Armytage that Turnbull was still very much the leader of the Liberal Party – both figuratively and literally.
“That’s not the test for the leadership of the Liberal Party,” she said. “The test is who retains the confidence of the majority of the members of the Liberal Party room, and that’s Malcolm Turnbull.
“He promised that he would deliver strong economic management and that’s what he’s delivering. Since he became prime minister we’ve had 17 consecutive months of jobs growth and we’re on track to see the creation of a million new jobs since we came to government.”