What’s really behind the pro-coal Monash Forum

When Malcolm Turnbull challenged Tony Abbott by invoking his 30th bad Newspoll, the primary vote for both Labor and the Liberals was 39 per cent. Abbott had crashed the Coalition’s primary vote to that level from 45.6 per cent on polling day in 2013.

Tony Abbott and Craig Kelly are two key members of the Monash Forum. 

And then a fortnight ago, the 29th losing Newspoll for Malcolm Turnbull recorded the Coalition’s primary vote even lower at 37 per cent, down from the 42 per cent achieved by the PM on polling day in 2016. Labor’s vote had improved from 34.7 per cent to 39 per cent over the same period.

Supporters of Tony Abbott aim to make the most of this synchronicity when Mr Turnbull’s 30th losing Newspoll appears on Monday. They kicked things off this week by confecting a test of Mr Turnbull’s leadership on energy policy aimed at chipping away the PM’s soft supporters to create momentum for a leadership challenge in May.

Read Paula Mathewson’s story from The New Daily - “What’s really behind the pro-coal Monash Forum.”