Abbott gives himself Christmas deadline to decide on political future

In his first interview since losing the Liberal leadership, former prime minister Tony Abbott has wished his replacement well and says reform will be hard.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks during a press conference in the Prime Ministerial Courtyard at Parliament House in Canberra Source: AAP

Governments will struggle to make difficult reform decisions and public trust will be hard to restore under the "febrile" politics which has led to party-room coups, Tony Abbott says.

Speaking in his first interview since being toppled by Malcolm Turnbull, the former prime minister said these were the two big challenges facing Australia.

"How can governments make the decisions about difficult and necessary reforms if prime ministers are subject to the kind of death by opinion poll which we have seen in recent times?" he told News Corp Australia.

"Obviously I know, having been a practitioner of politics in this country, that the top job has never been less secure."

Despite his promise of "no wrecking, no undermining and no sniping" after losing, Mr Abbott appeared to take a little dig at his side of politics.

"I never thought having watched the Labor Party implode that the Coalition would want to venture down the same path," he said.

He also suggested that nothing, apart from the Liberal Party leadership, had changed.

"In a policy sense, there is very little departure," he said.

"Border protection policy the same, national security policy the same, economic policy the same, even same-sex marriage policy the same, and climate change policy the same. In fact, the rhetoric is the same."

Mr Abbott said he would not make a decision about his future before Christmas, but believed he was far too young to stop working.

He has not ruled out retiring from parliament.