Prime Minister Tony Abbott has repeated his controversial "goodies" and "baddies" description of the Syrian civil war ahead of planned talks on the issue at the World Economic Forum.
Mr Abbott came under fire from Labor during last year's election campaign when the then-opposition leader colloquially described the conflict as "baddies versus baddies" in a television interview.
The situation in Syria is expected to be high on the agenda during this week's gathering of world leaders in Davos and Mr Abbott, after condemning the "monstrous" Assad regime, repeated his remarks in a press conference to Australian reporters on Tuesday.
"As I famously - perhaps infamously - said during the election campaign, it often seems like a struggle that involves baddies versus baddies," Mr Abbott, a keynote speaker at the forum, said after arriving in the Swiss alpine town.
"I guess the best way for all of them to demonstrate if some of them are goodies is to lay down their arms and try to ensure the conflict, which is devastating that country and its people, starts to subside."
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Asked whether he thought the gathering of world leaders at the four-day forum, starting on Wednesday, could help bring about a resolution to the Syrian situation, Mr Abbott was hopeful but not optimistic.
"Obviously we want to see a more peaceful, more just, more democratic Syria," he said.
"Obviously we think the Assad regime has acted in monstrous ways.
"But ... the history of conflicts such as this does not give us too much ground for optimism."
Former PM Kevin Rudd last year accused Mr Abbott of simplifying the Syrian situation like a "1950s John Wayne western" but Mr Abbott defended his use of colloquial language to describe the situation, saying it was acceptable when trying to explain complex situations to ordinary people.
