FEDERAL Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has defended the Abbott government's poor polling return following last week's tough budget.
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With voter backlash escalating on Monday, Mr Joyce also took a swipe at the Palmer United Party and Katter Australia Party describing them as "cults".
The Nielsen poll published in Fairfax newspapers this week showed strong rejection of the government's first budget, with Labor leading 56 to 44 per cent on the two-party preferred vote.
Prime minister Tony Abbott's approval rating also suffered a major hit, dropping 10 points to 34 per cent while Opposition leader Bill Shorten's approval hit 47 per cent.
Mr Joyce said the Coalition was aware of the budget's unpopularity.
"We knew from the start this was going to be a tough road," he said.
"We knew from the start that it's not the thing that you want to do if you want to be popular.
"But we also knew from the start that we just couldn't carry on the way we were going.
"We knew from the start that if we didn't do something about the budget now we'd just be going back to the Australian people in five years' time."
"Only this time the discussion would be about what hospitals you close and what schools you close and what drugs come off the pharmaceuticals benefits scheme and how we can actually defend ourselves.
"These are the sort of questions that the Australian people would just never accept (but) we can't just go on the way we were going."