The head of The Australia Institute says perceived anti-LNP moves on state and federal levels show the party’s approach is not working.

Richard Denniss, an economist and executive director of the left-leaning think-tank, has written a piece for Fairfax Media in which he says three-word slogans and repetitive messaging do not make good policy.

“In the past five years, the Liberals have taken more and more leaves from the Tea Party playbook,” Mr Denniss wrote.

“Simple solutions and simple slogans are used to attack their opposition and to whip the fires of discontent in the community.”

He pointed to the recent victory by the ALP in Victoria, Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s 10 point lag in two-party preferred polling and similarly unpopular view of Queensland says Premier Campbell Newman as examples of a failed approach.

“Put simply, the arguments and the approach that made Abbott a highly successful opposition leader are the ones that have made him the least popular first-term prime minister in the history of opinion polling,” Mr Denniss claimed.

“Abbott convinced millions of Australians that a small carbon tax for which they were generously compensated was the reason that they felt financially stretched. The strategy worked to get him elected but, not surprisingly, it did nothing to solve the underlying problems facing the electricity sector and the economy.

“Abbott also came to power promising not just to scrap the carbon tax but to leave the generous compensation package in place. Such populism helped woo voters but did nothing to help solve his imaginary budget emergency.

“Convincing voters that their money is being wasted isn’t hard... but that’s exactly the strategy of the modern liberals; ‘Vote for me and I will do less harm than the ALP’.”

He said attempts by the Federal Government to blame its woes on an uncooperative Senate were really just a sign of the same obstructionism they practiced in opposition.

“The principles of good government are almost entirely unrelated to modern notions of good electoral strategy. The “message discipline” of Tony Abbott and his capacity to distil complex issues into three-word slogans is what got him elected, but is shaping up as one of his biggest problems.”

“The problem for the government, however, is that there is no real link between the ability to destroy your opponents and the ability to build community and Senate support for a reform agenda.”