By Rich Bowden:

The latest Newspoll published by The Australian has seen further improvement in the Greens primary vote at the expense of the major parties.

Labor’s woes continue with a drop in primary support to 35 percent, echoing dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s recent backflips on issues such asylum seekers and the shelving of the emissions trading scheme.

However the leakage of support from Labor has not benefitted the Coalition, with Newspoll finding support for them dropping from 43 to 41 percent.

The big winners in the survey are the Greens with a spike in primary support to 16 percent, an increase of six percentage points in six weeks.

Greens leader Senator Bob Brown cautiously welcomed the results.

“I think you can easily get carried away by one poll – mind you, I’d rather have a poll going up than the other way,” he told the ABC’s NewsRadio.

“We’re going to continue working to give the Australian people a good alternative to both the major parties who are increasingly frustrating voters.

“We’re not just blockers, we’re creative people in the Senate.”

On a two party preferred basis, Labor leads the Coalition 51 percent to 49 percent, a result which would result in a hung parliament if reflected in an election, said Newspoll.

Treasurer Wayne Swan told Radio National there was no signs of panic in the Government’s ranks.

“We don’t govern in terms of the fortnightly cycle on terms of Newspoll,” he said.

“I’m not in any way worried, or whatever, about opinion polls. What we are doing is in the national interest.”

Newspoll’s chief executive Martin O’Shannessy said the results were part of a growing trend of leakage of primary support for the major parties.

‘‘We reckon [16 per cent] is a reasonably sensitive measure of the Greens support. It can be explained by the fact that both major party leaders are on the nose,’’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Tags: Bob Brown, Greens, greens newspoll, primary support greens, the australian