Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been thrown a lifeline by Australian voters just as his internal opponents appeared ready to dump him , with the latest opinion poll confirming a pro-government shift is under way . The Fairfax-Ipsos poll published on Monday puts the coalition almost neck-and-neck with Labor in two-party terms at 49-51 . That 's the best result since October and a big improvement on the 54-46 split recorded in January . Scroll down for video . As speculation about Tony Abbott 's leadership rumbles on , a Fairfax-Ipsos poll published on Monday puts the coalition almost neck-and-neck with Labor in two-party terms at 49-51 . Labor 's primary vote dropped four points to sit at 36 per cent , while the Coalition gained four points to hit 42 per cent , according to the poll of 1,406 voters . The results confirm a surge in government support suggested last week by Newspoll , which found primary support for the government rising three points . Yet Mr Abbott continues to lag behind Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull as preferred leader of the Liberal Party , with the latter scoring highter in all of 10 leadership attributes voters were surveyed about . Just one fifth of those polled believe Mr Abbott enjoys the confidence of his party . Half think Mr Turnbull does . Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten remains the preferred prime minister compared to Mr Abbott , but his margin has been slashed from 16 points to five since the previous poll to sit at 44-39 . On sunday , Mr Abbott laughed off the latest round of leadership talk as recycled rubbish , saying the matter was settled by the failure of a spill motion in the Liberals ' party room three weeks ago . The latest opinion poll is the best result for the Liberal party since October and a big improvement on the 54-46 split recorded in January . The results confirm a surge in government support suggested last week by Newspoll , which found primary support for the government rising three points . But talk of a second spill motion this week persists , after reports a majority of Liberal MPs and senators now want to dump him . A relaxed Mr Abbott poked fun at the leadership rumours at a Clean Up Australia Day event on NSW 's south coast on Sunday . 'This is Clean Up Australia Day , and I 'm just not going to do anything but recycle the rubbish , ' he joked . 'And that 's what 's happening , we 're just recycling rubbish today . ' A party room spill motion three weeks ago was defeated 61-39 , and the coalition was getting on with governing , Mr Abbott said . 'Frankly I think the people of Australia are sick of the insider obsessions of people in Canberra , ' he told reporters . Mr Abbott continues to lag behind Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull as preferred leader , losing out in all 10 of the leadership attributes surveyed . Tony Abbott has laughed off the latest round of leadership talk as recycled rubbish , saying the matter was settled by the party room three weeks ago . Prospective leadership contenders Julie Bishop and Mr Turnbull steered clear of the speculation , with both declaring their support for Mr Abbott . Mr Turnbull said it was 'absolutely critical ' Liberals concentrated on defeating Labor at this month 's NSW election . 'The big political question in the next four weeks is the NSW state election , ' he told reporters on his Sunday morning walk in Sydney . A relaxed Prime Minister poked fun at the leadership speculation rumours at a Clean Up Australia Day event on NSW 's south coast on Sunday . Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull both threw their support behind Mr Abbott on Sunday following the latest opinion poll . 'The prime minister has my support . He has the support of the Cabinet and life goes on . ' Ms Bishop dismissed the continued rumblings as hypothetical , after News Corp reported the foreign minister would put her hand up in the event of a spill . 'The prime minister has not been challenged . There was a spill motion that did n't succeed , and what we 're doing is focusing on governing , ' she told Network Ten .
Coalition almost neck-and-neck with Labor in 10-party terms at 49-51 . Monday 's Fairfax-Ipsos poll shows best result for Coalition since October . Poll confirms surge in government support despite leadership speculation . But Tony Abbott lags behind Malcolm Turnbull as voters ' preferred leader . Abbott laughed off the latest round of leadership talk as 'recycled rubbish '