Hockey slams Abbott's outcry over polls

(AAP) Tension has erupted within federal Liberal ranks with a spat between two frontbenchers in the wake of another poor opinion poll.
The row came as former treasurer Peter Costello made his presence felt from overseas but failed to end speculation about whether he'll seek the party leadership.

Opposition health spokesman Joe Hockey criticised colleague Tony Abbott for publicly
venting his frustration about consistently bad poll showings.
A Newspoll published Tuesday had the two-party-preferred split at 56 per cent for
Labor and 44 per cent for the coalition.
The poll also had Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's preferred prime minister rating
at 16 per cent, up two points but trailing far behind Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on
62 per cent.
Mr Abbott said the coalition would like to be doing better in the polls.
"Obviously politicians do look at polls and we are dismayed when they're not as good
as we'd like them to be," he told ABC radio.
Mr Hockey, the opposition's health spokesman, said such remarks were unhelpful.
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm not a commentator on opinion polls," he told Macquarie
Radio.
"If some of my colleagues choose to become day-to-day commentators on opinion polls,
then perhaps they'd best be served becoming full-time commentators rather than
full-time representatives of the people.
Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb declined to comment on the spat,
saying the party was still in a transition period after last year's election defeat.
"We're early in opposition, we've got a big job ahead of us, we've got a government
that's all talk and no action, people are expecting us to knuckle down and present a
viable alternative to keep the government accountable," Mr Robb told Sky News.
Mr Costello, who is visiting the United States, attacked the federal government's
economic performance but shed no light on his own plans.
He will return to Australia this weekend ahead of the launch of his memoirs next week.
"I think it will tell something of the story of Australia over the last decade -
some of the things that we accomplished, some of the things that are still to be
done," he said of the highly-anticipated book.
"It's important that we record the history."
When the book is released Mr Costello is expected to finally end speculation on
whether he will retire or stay on and, perhaps, assume the Liberal leadership.
So far, he has only said he would not challenge Dr Nelson for the job.