By political reporter Stephanie Anderson.
Dumped prime minister Tony Abbott has refused to say whether he has forgiven Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as he urges party members to stay on and “fight”.
Speaking to 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, Mr Abbott said he would exercise “silence” when asked if he had forgiven Mr Turnbull.
“There’s obviously been a lot of dirty water under the bridge,” he said.
“I guess in time, all things are more readily understood, more readily accommodated and seen in proper perspective.
“Malcolm didn’t stay in the parliament to be someone else’s minister.”
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Mr Abbott said he had received some “interesting texts” from colleagues in the wake of the leadership change, including some from Mr Turnbull a week ago.
He said he did not want to be a “thorn in the side” of the new government, but repeated his claim that he could have led the party to victory in the next election.
“Obviously the polls were difficult, but I am absolutely confident that we would have won the election under my prime ministership,” he said.
“I’m confident that we will be very competitive at the election under Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership.”
Mr Abbott also took aim at the media, partly attributing his loss of leadership to anonymous reports.
"The thing that has most disappointed me about the media recently is the readiness of people to report as fact self-serving claims made by individuals on an anonymous basis," he said.
"A lot of people in the media have got to ask themselves the question: why did they allow themselves to be the assassin's knife?"
Mr Abbott urged Liberal party members to rally behind the new leadership, saying party members have "got to make the most of situations, even very difficult ones".
