Turnbull refuses to discuss OzCar, polls

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull was trying to put the OzCar fake email affair
behind him on Monday by refusing to discuss the matter publicly.
Mr Turnbull refused to answer questions about his leadership as he moved to reassert
his authority with the launch of an alternative emissions trading scheme based on
research commissioned by the opposition and independent senator Nick Xenophon.
He also would not say whether the opposition planned to pick up where it left off
when parliament broke up for winter in June and continue its pursuit of the
government, particularly Treasurer Wayne Swan, over the OzCar affair.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Turnbull pointed to his 47-minute news conference last
Tuesday and his lengthy media release that he said fully explained his position on
OzCar and his dealings with Treasury official Godwin Grech.
"I've got nothing more to say on that matter," Mr Turnbull said on Monday, more than
once, during a news conference on emissions trading.
"I'm not commenting on polls. Are there any other questions on emissions trading
schemes and the jobs of thousands of Australians, if that remains of interest?"
As expected, another bad Newspoll has set the agenda for the return of parliament on
Tuesday when Mr Turnbull will face his party room in its first meeting since late
June.
He will be immediately faced with anger over his decision to propose amendments to
the government's carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS), which will be defeated in
the Senate on Thursday.
The veteran West Australian backbencher and former Howard government junior minister
Wilson Tuckey has already made it clear he will be critical over a lack of party
consultation.
The poll shows voter unhappiness has been directed at Mr Turnbull personally rather
than the coalition parties.
There was a slight improvement of one point in Mr Turnbull's preferred leader rating
to 17 per cent but he remains 48 points behind Mr Rudd.
Opposition frontbencher Greg Hunt described the two party-preferred poll result,
which remained steady with Labor on 57 per cent and the coalition on 43 per cent, as
positive.
"I actually think under the circumstances it is a very strong result," Mr Hunt said
on Monday.
But dissatisfaction with Mr Turnbull's performance jumped seven points to a
concerning 57 per cent while satisfaction with his performance fell seven points to
26 per cent.
Another poll released on Monday added to the pain by confirming voters are going out
of their way to mark Mr Turnbull down rather than the coalition.
The Essential Research online poll of more than 1,000 people tracked Mr Turnbull's
approval rating since he became leader in September last year.
It found his total approval had fallen from 36 per cent in September when he took
the opposition leadership from Brendan Nelson to a low of 22 per cent in the past
week.
Mr Turnbull's approval had peaked at 41 per cent in January but has been in steady
decline since it was at 30 per cent in May.
Another opposition frontbencher, Senator George Brandis, moved to explain the bad
Newspoll saying it was no secret Mr Turnbull had had a "terrible" six or seven weeks
since the OzCar affair blew up.
"I think the Australian public don't finally make up their mind about a leader until
they've seen ... what it's like when the blowtorch is upon him," Senator Brandis
said.