Tony Abbott was happy to tell Europe how to deal with its refugee crisis, but has stopped short of telling world leaders that military action in Syria and Iraq should be escalated to ground troops after the terrorist attacks in Paris.
In his first television interview since being toppled by Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, Mr Abbott told Network Ten it is not something he believes he should giving public advice to prime ministers and presidents on.
But Islamic State, or ISIL, has to be defeated, he said.
"It's not going to go away just by wishing it to go away. It's only going to be defeated if people take very strong steps against it," he told the Bolt program on Sunday.
Conservative program host Andrew Bolt asked Mr Abbott if Muslim leaders should be doing more, for example, issuing a fatwa.
"Well, fatwas are not what I deal in. I deal in what I like to think is common sense," Mr Abbott replied.
"This idea of death to the infidel is absolutely abhorrent. People have got to live in peace with each other, regardless of their religion, their culture."
He wouldn't be drawn on what he intends to do in the future, two months after being ousted from the top political job.
"Frankly, in the wake of these atrocities, I don't know if political trivia and gossip about what Abbott may or may not do next is really the right thing to be discussing," he said.
He intends to discharge his responsibilities as the member for Warringah to the best of his ability, while reiterating that as a "young 58" he doesn't intend to spend the rest of his life on a surfboard or a pushbike.
Neither would he comment on the revelation that deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop's chief of staff attended a meeting of the plotters the night before he was toppled by Mr Turnbull.
"What I'm not going to do is go into the entrails of who said what and who might have done things differently over those few days," Mr Abbott said.
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