Voters have marked down the new Abbott government in an opinion poll which shows Labor ahead of the Coalition on two party preferred terms for the first time since 2010.
The Nielsen poll, published by Fairfax Media on Monday, showed Labor on a two party preferred vote of 52%, up 5.5% since the election, and the Coalition on 48%, down 5.5%.
Labor's primary vote has climbed 4% since the September election, and sits on 37%, while the Coalition's primary vote dropped by 5 points to be 41%.
The Greens' standing also improved post-election, from 9% to 11% in Monday's poll.
Tony Abbott is ahead of Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister, 49% to 41%.
The positive poll for Labor is out of step with other surveys which show voter sentiment more or less unchanged since the September election, but it follows a difficult couple of weeks for the Abbott government.
Revelations that Australia attempted in 2009 to listen in on the mobile telephone of the Indonesian president, his wife and their inner circle has prompted a diplomatic crisis with Indonesia, which has now suspended military and border protection co-operation with Australia.
That decision threatens the success of the Coalition's signature asylum policy, which relies on a high degree of co-operation with Indonesia.
The diplomatic stand-off with Indonesia has also overshadowed the issue the Coalition wanted to talk about during the first two sitting weeks of the 44th parliament – the repeal of Labor's carbon price.
Repeal of Labor's clean energy package passed the lower house last week, and Abbott had wanted to keep the political conversation in the cost of living frame, promising voters their household costs would be lower under the Coalition.
But the new Nielsen poll has sobering news on that front for the Coalition.
While a majority (57%) of the 1,400 sample support repeal of the carbon "tax" only 12% of support Direct Action, which is the Abbott government's climate change policy.
The poll suggests community support for policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions remains strong.
The resumption of parliament has also given Labor a daily platform to pursue issues such as the Coalition's commitment to public disclosure.
The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, has been heavily criticised for not revealing key information about "on water" incidents involving asylum seekers, and for stonewalling both inside parliament and its forums, and outside the parliament.
Labor has broadened the attack on Morrison to a political argument about a "culture of secrecy" inside the government.
Labor and the Greens have also reignited a debate about debt by digging their heels in on a plan by the Abbott government to raise the debt ceiling by $200bn to $500bn.
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