Newspoll shows support for the Rudd government has slumped as the asylum seeker
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is standing firm despite clear signs the electorate is losing faith in his border protection policies.
Amid a stand-off between authorities and 78 asylum seekers aboard an Australian Customs vessel, voters have clearly indicated their disapproval of Mr Rudd's "Indonesia solution".
The 78 Tamils aboard the Oceanic Viking, anchored for more than two weeks off Indonesia's Bintan Island, are refusing to disembark.
High-level talks between Australian and Indonesian officials took place on Tuesday in a desperate effort to resolve the situation.
But the damage had already been done.
The latest Newspoll shows support for the Rudd government has slumped over the past fortnight as the asylum seeker issue continued to dominate politics.
The poll, conducted at the weekend and published on Tuesday, shows support for Labor fell seven percentage points to 52 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
It comes as the surge in asylum seekers took a deadly turn with at least one dead with almost a dozen still missing after their boat sank off the Cocos Islands.
Mr Rudd's approval rating also fell by four percentage points.
However, the prime minister says he will not resile from his stance on asylum seekers, maintaining his policy is "hardline on people smugglers" and "humane on asylum seekers".
"Polls go up, polls go down. My job is to govern in the national interest, because my job is to make decisions in the long-term national interest," Mr Rudd told ABC radio.
"What the government is doing is ensuring that it implements its tough, responsible but fair policy, the one that we took to the people prior to the last election, and it's the one which serves Australia's long-term interests.
"I understand that it won't necessarily be popular. People from the right of politics won't like it, people from the left of politics won't like it, but my job is to get on with the business of doing it."
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said he wasn't fazed by the polling slump.
But he admitted he might be worried if future polls showed a similar shift.
"If that is replicated in the next two or three polls, then that starts to become something of significance."
The slide in support for Labor has seen the coalition claw its way back to 48 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
But that has not translated into a lift in the polls for Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.
Mr Turnbull's approval rating was steady at 32 per cent.
The opposition leader responded by attacking the government's asylum seeker policy, including the removal of the Howard government's Pacific solution policy.
Mr Turnbull said if elected he would introduce tough measures to stop the people smugglers.
"We've done it before and we'll do it again," he said.
But he would not specify what action he would take over the 78 asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking because he said he wasn't privy to all the detail.
Liberal frontbencher Tony Abbott described Mr Rudd's border protection policies as a "comprehensive failure".
Independent senator Nick Xenophon said the poll results represented a "confused" approach to the asylum seeker issue.
The voters wanted clarity, he said.
"They will respect you for standing by your principles and sticking by them but I think there is confusion as to what the government stands for."
SEVEN NEWS AUSTRALIA
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