The government's primary vote share was 27 per cent, behind One Nation on 28 per cent but ahead of the coalition at 21 per cent, The Australian's Newspoll showed on Monday.
It was the worst primary result for Labor in the survey since the Albanese government's 2022 election victory and close to the party's record-low 26 per cent in the survey under Julia Gillard's leadership in September 2011.
Economic gloom prevailed over the sobering tally, which landed on the eve of the Reserve Bank's expected fifth interest rate hike for 2026, as the central bank tries to rein in inflation that's triggered a cost-of-living crisis.
While the prime minister meets world leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the Caribbean, Labor's opponents have queued up to pin the rate rises on inflation fuelled by government spending.
"It cannot control its spending and the result of that is the Reserve Bank needs to do all the hard work," Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told reporters.
The coalition was buoyed by its third gain in Newspoll primary vote share since August.
Mr Taylor is also snapping at his Labor counterpart's heels in a head-to-head on who would be the better prime minister, with 40 per cent of respondents in his corner compared with Mr Albanese's 42 per cent.
His approval rating of minus 10 was also well above the prime minister's, which has rallied four points from an all-time low of negative 27 recorded in September.
"This treasurer, this prime minister are in absolute denial," Mr Taylor said.
"They just spend their days looking for who to blame."
Treasurer Jim Chalmers fared worst in Newspoll's minister-by-minister breakdown, with a net approval rating of negative 16 after a series of high inflation reads and controversial tax changes in the May budget.
The treasurer previously said he took responsibility for "difficult things in my portfolio" but he would leave it for other ministers to take responsibility for spending on their patches.
The comments followed reports of tension between him and the prime minister over purported savings measures put forward by the treasurer but subsequently rejected.
Those rumours were overblown, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said.
Senior minister Tanya Plibersek also defended the treasurer.
"There's been no reforming treasurer in Australian history that hasn't copped it when they've made big changes - we all support Jim," Ms Plibersek told Nine's Today program on Monday.
"We all make decisions together."
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry joined the chorus clamouring for the government to tighten its belt ahead of the mid-financial year budget update due in December.
"(We need) a more disciplined approach to fiscal policy ... and we can't do that if we're going to run entrenched budget deficits for as far as the eye can see," ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar said.
"There are many areas in the budget which have got to be examined - no area is easy to find savings."
Mr McKellar said it was worth examining means testing to rein in spending on electric vehicle tax breaks and subsidies for home batteries, which have blown out in cost and been compared to middle-class welfare.
Labor is yet to nominate cuts planned for the mid-year budget, but Environment Minister Murray Watt hit back at opponents criticising the government's green energy incentives.Â
"Are they talking about getting rid of cheaper home batteries, which Australians are embracing in droves? No one knows where those spending cuts would come from," he told ABC Radio.
"We saw growth in private sector demand triple and at the same time we saw growth in public sector demand halve. That demonstrates that we are making serious attempts to ensure that public sector spending is not adding to inflation."
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