I won't be a prisoner of Canberra: PM

It's not easy to get Attorney-General George Brandis to sleep in a tent, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

But that's how Senator Brandis will reside for the next few days after joining the prime minister on the Torres Strait islands for his annual week in remote indigenous communities.

A swag of ministers joined Mr Abbott for an official dinner on Thursday Island, including assistant treasurer Josh Frydenberg and assistant education minister Simon Birmingham.

The ministers are staying in army constructed tents, similar to the ones erected for the prime minister's week in Arnhem Land last year.

"It takes a lot to get George Brandis living in a tent," Mr Abbott told locals on Monday evening.

"But that's what he'll be doing for the next couple of nights because he wants to experience something of indigenous Australia."

Mr Abbott also pledged never to forget about the issues affecting people on the ground.

"I want you to know that as long as I am your prime minister I will never be a prisoner of Canberra," he said.

"I will never be someone who gets so caught up in the routine of Canberra that I neglect the real life of our people."

Mr Abbott's Torres Strait trip honours his election commitment to govern the nation from a remote indigenous community for one week each year.

He's the forth prime minister to visit the region but the first to spend an extended time on the islands.

"Whenever I come to a new community, I learn things I would not know if I had listened to officials and read the briefing notes," he said.

As his first official business on Monday, Mr Abbott visited Eddie Mabo's gravesite and paid homage to the land rights campaigner who paved the way for native title.

Mr Mabo led the High Court case that granted indigenous land rights, but died before learning the outcome.

The prime minister will spend Tuesday focusing on defence, with Chief of Defence Mark Binskin joining him for commemorations.