Malcolm Turnbull has been honest about his regrets over using 30 losing Newspolls as a reason to dump Tony Abbott and it's time to move on, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says.
Mr Dutton also says he would like to be prime minister one day, and refused to say if he had told Mr Abbott to "pull his head in" to ensure party unity.
Mr Turnbull has lost his 30th consecutive Newspoll to Labor, after using the same benchmark as one reason to topple Mr Abbott.
"Malcolm says he regrets having used the 30 Newspoll statement and you can see he's been honest about that," Mr Dutton told 3AW radio on Monday.
"I think it's a test when you can stand up and say that you've made a mistake, you've learnt from it and you move on, and that's, I think, an important thing."
When asked if he had spoken to Mr Abbott about not agitating so strongly against the prime minister, Mr Dutton would not reveal his private conversations.
"Tony's a personal friend of mine. I've never said a bad word against Tony and I won't."
Mr Dutton also reiterated his desire to be prime minister one day.
"There are 149 people in the federal parliament (as well as the prime minister). I'm one and I think the other 148 - if they're being honest - would tell you if the opportunity came their way they'd be interested as well," he said.
"If you're playing cricket... for the Australian cricket team or for the Wallabies or for the Diamonds, whoever, most people want to captain that team. And again I don't think there's any sense in lying about that."
