Tasmanian premier Will Hodgman has resisted calls to comment on Canberra's Liberal leadership tension, insisting he is focused on governing the island state.
The Liberal premier, who in March marks one year in the job, is facing pressure from the state Labor opposition to publicly declare his support for Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
"It is important for Tasmanians to know whether Mr Hodgman supports the direction the Liberals are taking at a national level," leader Bryan Green said on Wednesday.
Appearing at a tourism event in Hobart, Mr Hodgman swept aside questions of his allegiance, saying only that governing Tasmania remained his priority.
Mr Abbott has dismissed backbench calls for a leadership spill after three of his MPs called for the issue to be resolved.
West Australian backbencher Dennis Jensen has told Mr Abbott he no longer has his support.
But Tasmanian Liberal MP Andrew Nikolic said coalition members who have broken ranks to speak against Mr Abbott are in the minority.
"The vast majority of colleagues want stability and to give the PM some clear air," he told The Examiner newspaper.
The member for the northern Tasmanian seat of Bass said he has written to all federal coalition MPs warning that the government risked being tarred with the same brush of "ill-disciplined introspection" that characterised the former Labor government.
"My hope, my plea is that we knuckle down, re-focus on what's important and not become the rabble we defeated."
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