The chairman of one of Australia's largest companies says the Abbott government appears to have forgotten about policy altogether, urging them to refocus their attention and come up with a narrative for reform the public can believe.
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Kevin McCann, the chairman of Macquarie Group, says the state of policy in Canberra is so dispiriting he feels he has to say something, despite his wariness about entering the political debate.
In rare public criticism of the government of the day, Mr McCann has called on the Abbott government to stop fighting so many policy battles at once and to try to focus on just two or three priority areas.
"I've always been reluctant as chairman of a large company to start lecturing politicians and the community about what they should do, but I think I'm reluctantly changing that," Mr McCann said on Monday.
"With no disrespect to [Treasurer] Joe Hockey or [Assistant Treasurer] Josh Frydenberg, policy seems to have fallen off the table in Canberra."
New polling on Monday showed the Abbott government would have lost a massive 36 seats if an election were held on the weekend, marking a huge 7.5 per cent swing against the party that would see the Labor Party win a clear majority government.
The Fairfax-Ipsos poll showed Prime Minister Tony Abbott languishing far behind Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull as most popular choice for Liberal leader among voters, with 41 per cent of voters preferring Mr Turnbull compared to just 15 per cent for Mr Abbott.
The polling has followed a horror month for the Coalition, with the Bronwyn Bishop chopper scandal, toxic infighting over same-sex marriage and allegations of bias against trade unions royal commissioner Dyson Heydon consuming important political oxygen.
Mr McCann said on Monday that the Abbott government was failing to take the public with them on crucial policy reform and they desperately need to construct a narrative the public will find believable.
And he singled out the Commission of Audit report as an example of the way in which the government had bungled its political messaging over the last 12 months.
"I think it was a mistake to have the Commission of Audit say the country was busted, because the community knew that we weren't busted," Mr McCann said.
"Surely we've got budget issues, but at the moment the community [feels] 'we're doing okay, why do we have to go through all this pain?' We've got to stop lecturing these people, we've got to have conversations and we've got to build up support," he said.
Mr McCann was speaking at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's business leaders' summit, held at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
He was sharing a panel with Mr Frydenberg whom defended the government's reform efforts, saying it is unfair to say policy has fallen off the table.
"The question [is], how do we get [reforms] through Parliament?" Mr Frydenberg said to the audience.
"Let's call a spade a spade. The Productivity Commission ... was tasked by us to produce a blueprint for reform in industrial relations. [But] before they had even released their interim report the unions had come out against it.
"[You should] say to our political opponents, don't run scare campaigns on issues as important as IR before the report has even hit the desk."
