Malcolm Turnbull has been warned voters will continue to drift to minor parties unless the Liberals return to being economically liberal and socially conservative.
The warning from former prime minister Tony Abbott came as cabinet minister Christopher Pyne was recorded telling moderate Liberal faction colleagues he had voted for Mr Turnbull in every partyroom ballot, and same-sex marriage must be delivered "before too long".
Asked whether it now appeared Mr Pyne had been plotting all along to end his leadership, Mr Abbott told radio 2GB on Monday: "Christopher Pyne wasn't just a member of my cabinet, he was actually in the leadership team and it's important that you show loyalty.
"But if he's to be believed on Friday night, that loyalty was never there, which is incredibly disappointing."
Mr Abbott said the coalition took a clear policy to the election of having a plebiscite to decide on same-sex marriage.
"To dump the plebiscite, to do anything without a plebiscite, would be a breach of faith with the people," he warned.
Mr Turnbull declined to criticise Mr Pyne, and reiterated the Liberal Party's policy on same-sex marriage.
"Our policy is for there to be a national plebiscite and we have no plans to change it, full stop," he told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.
Mr Pyne tweeted the government had no plans to change its policy and if Labor had supported the plebiscite in parliament same-sex marriage would now be a reality.
Labor leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Melbourne voters were sick of parties focusing on themselves.
"People want the politicians to put the national interest first, not their internal bickering," he said.
Mr Abbott said the public was turning off politicians because they were not being "fair dinkum".
"You need to have a strong, sensible centre-right party, otherwise people start drifting off to the fringe," he said.
Evidence of the growing strength of the "fringe" was demonstrated by Victorian state upper house MP Rachel Carling-Jenkins shifting from the Democratic Labour Party to Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives on Monday.
It followed a similar defection by South Australia's Family First upper house members amid reports Senator Bernardi's fledgling party could have as many as 10,000 members.
Meanwhile, Australian Greens members failed to come to a decision on the future of NSW senator Lee Rhiannon in a teleconference on Monday.
Senator Rhiannon has been accused of damaging her Senate colleagues' negotiations with the government on schools funding.
Facing possible expulsion, she says her work did not undermine the talks and it was the government's decision to strike a deal with the crossbench that killed off the negotiations.
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