Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has not faced any "real economic tests yet", Bill Shorten has said as he dismissed questions about his own leadership amid poor poll results.
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The Opposition Leader declared "I never give up" after the latest Newspoll results showed his standing as preferred prime minister has fallen to just 15 per cent, compared to Mr Turnbull's 64 per cent.
"I accept what's going on with Malcolm Turnbull at the moment. Truth be told I share in the national relief that Tony Abbott's no longer Prime Minister of Australia," Mr Shorten said on Tuesday.
"But what I also understand is Malcolm Turnbull hasn't been subject to any real economic tests yet.
"The real test will come when he has to bring down a budget. The real test will come when he actually outlines what he wants to do about increasing the price of everything to 15 per cent."
Tuesday's Newspoll puts Labor behind the Coalition 47 per cent to 53 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
The Fairfax Ipsos poll released last week showed Mr Turnbull had opened an 81-point lead over Mr Shorten on net approval. It was the largest gap recorded in a Fairfax poll between the incumbent and the opposition leader.
Support for Mr Shorten is the lowest for any Labor leader since Simon Crean dropped to 14 per cent in 2003 and later resigned.
Mr Shorten was asked on Tuesday at a media conference on Labor's proposal to increase tobacco excise whether he would lead the party to the next election.
"Just so people understand, and people should expect: I never give up because I won't, because I don't," Mr Shorten said.
"That's who I am."
