A senior Coalition MP has called for the GST to apply to fresh food as rattled colleagues questioned the government's pre-budget political strategy and admitted they have been hit by a wave of voter anger over broken promises, new taxes and cuts in Joe Hockey's first budget.
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The Abbott government suffered a 5 per fall to 35 per cent in the Fairfax-Nielsen poll.
One angry backbencher told Fairfax Media he had warned Mr Abbott about breaking his pledge of no new taxes, arguing the electorate had been ''primed'' to look for broken promises by the Abbott opposition.
''We saw what that did to Gillard. They are living in a fool's paradise. He hopes the electorate will forget the broken promises but they won't and I think this puts our election prospects in doubt,'' the MP said.
''My view is we needed a tough budget but we have broken our tax promise. We should have copped a bigger deficit. And where does the paid parental leave scheme fit into the narrative about a tough budget?
''I have had a lot of negative feedback from constituents, including long-time Liberals, who are not at all happy. I haven't spoken to anyone who likes it.''
Senator Macdonald said he welcomed angry constituents calling him to complain about what had to be a tough budget, but said he ''had been concerned about our pre-budget message''.
Queensland MP Warren Entsch criticised the government's pre-budget political strategy for ''scaring the bejesus out of everyone, including my mum'',
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