The Albanese government has been dealt a blow in new polling taken since its revision of the stage 3 tax cuts and days out from a crucial by-election.
Parliament will sit for the next four days before the by-election in the Melbourne seat of Dunkley, following the death of Labor MP Peta Murphy, is held on Saturday — the first big electoral test of the year.
Two new polls show despite the changes to the tax cuts — which will go through parliament this week — the government suffered a dip in its primary vote.
The Newspoll for The Australian shows the government having failed to improve its position overall since December.
Labor’s primary vote fell behind the coalition 36 to 33 per cent, although the government maintained a four-point lead on the two-party preferred vote system, 52 to 48 per cent, two points higher than February’s polling.
The Newspoll results also reported Mr Albanese gaining one point as the “better prime minister,” from 46 to 47 per cent, with Mr Dutton remaining steady on 35 per cent. A further 18 per cent were uncommitted.
Polling conducted by Resolve Political Monitor for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age found the primary vote for Labor dropped by one point from 35 to 34 per cent since December, while the Coalition gained ground from 34 per cent to 37 per cent.
While Mr Albanese was still seven points ahead of Mr Dutton (39 to 32 per cent) as the preferred prime minister, the margin was also at its lowest since Labor was returned to power.
The week in parliament
Labor will spend the week fighting cost-of-living fires on multiple fronts, as the government gears up to pass its new-look tax cuts against a backdrop of another housing battle.
While the changes to the stage 3 tax cuts will be the focus of the Senate this week, debate on the government’s proposed Help to Buy scheme will resume in the lower house.
If passed, the shared equity scheme would allow more than 40,000 Australians to co-own their first home with the government, requiring just two per cent of a deposit.
The government says it’s a crucial part of Labor’s broader housing agenda, but are staring down the Coalition and the Greens.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, debate will continue on the changes to the tax cuts.
The Coalition is set to vote in favour of the policy, but will likely use the vote to move amendments undermining the government as they did when the Bill went through the lower house.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers called on the opposition and the senate crossbenchers to “do the right thing by their communities and the country”.
“Don’t delay, don’t stuff around, vote for the cost-of-living relief that our communities need and deserve,” he said.
The Coalition are likely to use question time this week to push Labor to do more to tackle supermarket prices, after conversation turned towards forced divestiture last week.
Nationals leader David Littleproud called on the government to consider legislating powers to force Coles and Woolworths to sell off assets in a bid to improve competition and consequently lower prices.
Mr Albanese ruled it out last week, saying his government wasn’t “the Soviet Union”, instead pointing to the work of multiple inquiries currently underway.
More to come