Malcolm Turnbull has been reassured George Christensen won't quit the coalition, despite the maverick MP resigning as Nationals whip in the parliament.
Mr Christensen, who holds the Queensland seat of Dawson, had been rumoured to be considering quitting the coalition to either sit as an independent or join One Nation.
Doing so would lead to Mr Turnbull losing his one-seat majority in the House of Representatives and put the government in jeopardy.
Mr Christensen said in a statement on Tuesday he would resign the whip's position from Thursday, having realised his colleagues were concerned "the enforcer of discipline was being somewhat ill-disciplined himself".
"My continued outspokenness on a variety of issues was obviously incompatible with the position of party whip in the long term," he said.
Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said Mr Christensen remained a loyal member of the Nationals and would not be defecting.
"I don't think it's a big issue," Mr Joyce said,
However, Mr Christensen has flagged he may support a Greens bill seeking a parliamentary commission of inquiry into banks - contrary to the government's position.
Mr Christensen told ABC television on Tuesday it was not his intention to quit the coalition, but he would not give a blank cheque.
Asked whether he expected to remain in the coalition, he said: "In 12 months I hope that we have righted the ship and that we are attracting people back to us who, at the moment, are unfortunately in the mood of a pox on both your houses."
The coalition needed strong leadership and re-engagement with its base, he said.
Coalition discipline was on the prime minister's mind when he told a joint party room meeting in Canberra all MPs needed to focus on issues that matter to families and businesses.
"We have a duty to Australia and to our constituents to stick together, to be united," Mr Turnbull said.
"We've got a strong performance and when an election comes in two years time we will be judged on that performance - we need to keep building on that."
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the government remained on life support.
"Paul Keating once said famously to John Hewson 'I want to do you slowly', and it seems that George Christensen is doing that to Malcolm Turnbull," he said.
During the coalition meeting, one MP said the government needed to drop its "bean-counter language".
The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday depicted Mr Joyce, Mr Turnbull, his predecessor Tony Abbott, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and crossbench senators Pauline Hanson and Nick Xenophon as a bunch of clowns.
Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth said there were a variety of views in the community about politicians.
"I think what the Australian people want to see are politicians getting on and doing their job."
Following a Newspoll on Monday giving Labor a 55-45 lead in two-party terms, the Essential poll released on Tuesday put the margin slightly narrower at 53-47.
Mr Turnbull told the coalition party room voters would respond to MPs if they listened to concerns about power prices and electricity reliability.
