Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has shared a blistering attack on the Coalition, as approval numbers show its primary vote has sunk to a record low.
A Newspoll conducted last week and published in The Australian shows the primary vote crashing to just 27 per cent. Leader Sussan Ley’s net approval rating has plunged to minus 17.
About 32 per cent of voters are happy with Ley’s performance, with 49 per cent dissatisfied.
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Labor’s primary vote remains static at 36 per cent.
However, the big winner in the sinking support for the Coalition is Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, with the primary vote rising from 6.4 per cent to 10 per cent.
On Monday, Joyce offered a five-point plan to fix the party’s ailing support with voters.
“Number one, get a map of Australia and stick it on your fridge and from that point on, just start worrying about them,” Joyce told Sunrise host, Nat Barr.
“Don’t worry about climate conferences or worry about what’s happening in the Middle East or worry about the fact that you’ve got people coming in — worry about the cost of living.
“The next thing is basically pick three issues that are binary, that you’re all for them and Labor’s all against them or you’re against them and Labor is all for them because that helps you define the map on the fridge.
“The third thing is put your best team on the paddock, not your best mates. Put your best team on the paddock and follow through with that.
“Then I would say the Labor Party’s been there before, after Julia Gillard they were down at the same numbers and came back. So you can come back. You’ve really got to focus.
“The last thing I will say, if you don’t come back in the next three years, as a political movement, you might be replaced by another one.”
Barr asked Joyce is Ley safe from leadership spill.
“It’s not about Sussan, it’s about making sure you have the right people for the right positions because you want to present as competent across the field,” Joyce said.
“You haven’t got a great number to pick from, to be complete and frank. You can’t afford to run second-graders out and not going for a position myself, really not. People such as Matt Canavan is your best economic spokesman, use him.”
Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek was asked about a possible spill, only to say the Coalition needed to focus on issues and not infighting. She added she had ‘heard rumours’,” Ley could be replaced.
“Barnaby, Nationals, the Liberals, are all focused on themselves and what we’re focused on themselves and what we’re focused on as a government is the Australian people,” Plibersek said.
“That means higher wages, lower taxes, more affordable housing, cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, more bulk billing, fee-free TAFE, university debt relief.
“That’s what we’re focused on, actually making life better and easier for everyday Australians.”
Joyce and Plibersek then wrestled on immigration.
A new Resolve Strategic Poll has shown 49 per cent of Australians believe immigration is “too high” while 27 per cent have called it “about right” and five per cent think it’s “too low”.
“I’d say the reason we brought immigration down last year by 36 per cent is because we understand that there’s pressures out there. We need to be building more housing,” Plibersek said.
“We also need a balance. There’s skills that we need in Australia. I mean, Barnaby would tell you that there’s plenty of regional parts of Australia that need that workforce particularly when it’s fruit picking season, for example.
“We need a balance, but immigration is down under us. The two highest years, from 2017 onwards, nine million visas issued each year for two years. That was under Peter Dutton when he was Home Affairs Minister.”
Joyce took aim at immigrants settling in capital cities.
“The problem we’ve got is in capital cities they can’t afford houses. We brought in the population of Canberra, and they didn’t move out to regional areas.
“They moved into the centre of Sydney, the suburbs of Sydney, and Australians can’t buy a house.”
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