Senior ministers have questioned the accuracy of Newspoll, while arguing the Coalition is deadlocked with Labor in other surveys, as Malcolm Turnbull seeks to brush off his 30th straight poll loss.

Mr Turnbull, who defended his position by arguing the polls are “finely balanced”, responded to his 30th Newspoll loss by saying he regretted setting that benchmark when he challenged Mr Abbott for the leadership in 2015.

“I regret making those remarks at the time, making the remarks about 30 Newspolls at the time,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney. 

“But what I promised to do was to provide economic leadership and traditional cabinet government and I have done both.”

Mr Turnbull said he had the “confidence of my colleagues and no-one is suggesting I don’t”.

Senior ministers Julie Bishop, Peter Dutton, Mathias Cormann and Simon Birmingham also hit the airwaves on Monday morning to defend their leader.

Claiming the polls were “about 50:50″, Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne pointed to an Ipsos result on Saturday that had the Coalition tied with Labor on a two-party preferred measure.

“The Newspoll is just one poll, let’s face it,” he told ABC radio.

“The Newspoll … doesn’t ask people what their second preference is. It applies the preference flow from the last election. Whereas a good poll asks people what their second preference is.”

Mr Pyne said he was “surprised that the polls are as good as they are”, saying “the government isn’t in massive trouble”.

While the Coalition was in front by one measure in Saturday’s Ipsos poll, that survey found Labor ahead 52 per cent to 48 per cent on 2016 preferences flows, which was the result most widely reported. The 50:50 outcome was reported as a secondary result in Fairfax, which first published the poll.

Across Newspoll, the government’s last 50:50 result was in September 2016 while its best ReachTel result was a 48:52 loss in a July 2017 poll.

The government has consistently performed better when respondents are asked to nominate their own preferences than in polls based on 2016 preference flows.

As The New Daily reported on Monday morning, of the 138 surveys conducted by major pollsters since the 2016 election, the government has won five, lost 127, and tied six.

A YouGov poll on October 29 had the government leading Labor 51:49 on two-party terms.

The government’s only poll wins since the 2016 election were in surveys conducted by YouGov, which allow respondents to nominate their own preferences.

Abbott denies a challenge

Mr Abbott, who is on the annual Pollie Pedal charity bike ride, said the 30 Newspolls test was Mr Turnbull’s alone.

“It’s really, I suppose, something for Malcolm to explain why it applied to me, but shouldn’t apply now,” he told 2GB radio.

Mr Abbott denied he was preparing to challenge to the Prime Minister.

‘One of the differences between me and some of my colleagues is that if I’ve got something to say, I don’t ring up a journalist and whisper poison into their ears,” he said.

“I say it up front, openly, and put my name on it.”

On the Newspoll milestone, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said: “It’s Mr Turnbull who said that 30 Newspoll is a definition of success, that’s his problem.”

Mr Shorten also brushed off criticism from former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who used the 30th Newspoll milestone to criticise the new Labor leader and Mr Turnbull in a tweet.

He said he would not “interpret someone’s emotions through a tweet”, adding that “Mr Rudd did a very good job as prime minister of Australia”.

-with AAP