Australia's Coalition buoyed by Newspoll upswing

Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop and Treasurer Joe Hockey. Photo / Getty Images

Other polls less favourable amid party tensions over report of foreign aid cut

Australia's Coalition MPs will leave Canberra this week with a spring in their step, thanks to an opinion poll showing an unexpected surge in support for the Government, putting it within striking distance of Labor.

As federal Parliament prepared for a seven-week break leading up to the May Budget, yesterday's Newspoll suggested the Coalition's primary vote - its core support - has risen by four points, to 41 per cent.

In two-party terms, if an election were held, it would win 49 per cent of the vote, just two points behind Labor.

However, the Government's newly cheerful mood was somewhat dampened by another poll which painted an entirely different picture.

And while allies of Prime Minister Tony Abbott claimed his leadership was now safe, a row over cuts to the foreign aid budget highlighted continuing Cabinet divisions.

According to the Roy Morgan poll, the Coalition's primary support has dropped to 38 per cent, while Labor has widened its two-party-preferred lead to 12 points, with the Government's share of the vote down to 44 per cent.

The conflicting results flummoxed pollsters and commentators, who suggested that differing methods, a "rogue" poll and/or voter volatility were to blame.

The Government played up the good news, with the Small Business Minister, Bruce Billson, declaring that the Newspoll showed Australians "want a government to get on with the job of governing".

The Liberals, he added, had put "that moment of introspection [the leadership unrest]" behind them.

Malcolm Turnbull, the Communications Minister and, theoretically, Abbott's main challenger, said the Prime Minister was "safe in the bosom of the party that supports him with 100 per cent loyalty".

But what appears to have been a mischievously planted report that the foreign aid budget faced a further cut has exacerbated tensions between Treasurer Joe Hockey, an Abbott loyalist, and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, another potential leadership challenger.

Bishop, who was furious to learn of the purported plan from a newspaper, rolled her eyes in Parliament on Monday when Hockey praised the late prime minister Malcolm Fraser for setting up the Cabinet's expenditure review committee, also known as the "razor gang".

The Government has already slashed the foreign aid budget by A$11 billion ($11.3 billion), to its lowest level since records began. The Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, appeared to rule out a further cut yesterday.

If the Newspoll is the more reliable of the two polls, it may reflect the Government dumping a whole series of unpopular policies and promising a "pretty dull and pretty routine" Budget.

Voters would welcome that, since last year's Budget was peppered with unpalatable measures, most of which were never mentioned during the 2013 election campaign.

Labor's deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, poked fun at the Coalition yesterday for rejoicing at "only trailing a bit".

However, Turnbull said the Newspoll showed that Labor "cannot keep sitting on the sidelines, throwing stones at the Government".

What the polls show

• Newspoll shows the Coalition winding back Labor's 10-point lead from two weeks ago. Two-party preferred position (per cent): Labor 51; Coalition 49.

• The Essential poll shows support for the Coalition slipping two points from a week ago: Labor 54; Coalition 46.

• The Morgan poll, taken over the previous two weekends, has support for Labor increasing two points: Labor 56; Coalition 44.

• The most recent Galaxy poll, published in February, had Labor way out in front: Labor 56; Coalition 43.

• All the polls show Labor leader Bill Shorten is the preferred prime minister over Tony Abbott.
- AAP