THE NEWS WRAP: Abbott’s popularity dives to near-record low but Coalition still holds lead

The disapproval rating of federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has hit near-record levels in a new poll, although the Coalition has maintained an election-winning lead over Labor.

The Nielsen poll shows that 63% of voters disapprove of Abbott’s performance, up 2%. This is the second highest negative rating for an opposition leader in the poll’s 40-year history.

However, the Coalition holds 43% of the primary vote to Labor’s 35%.

Governments set to clash over GST

The Federal Government is set to stand its ground against the states over changes to GST at a tax summit today.

State governments have rejected Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan’s offer of raising stamp duty on property to make up for falling tax receipts.

However, Swan is expected to push back suggestions that GST should be raised instead in order to make up the shortfall.

ANZ fails to pass on full rate cut

ANZ has failed to pass on the full interest rate cut to customers, after becoming the last of the ‘big four’ banks to respond to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision.

The bank said it would reduce its variable mortgage rate by 0.2%, less than the full 25 basis points the RBA cut from the official cash rate.

Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.27% to 13,135.01 on Friday. The Australian dollar slipped to US105.44 cents.