TONY Abbott admits he made a “terrible mistake” in failing to see how unhappy his backbecnch colleagues were before the revolt that nearly cost him the top job.

In a shock move, the Prime Minister dumped Liberal elder Philip Ruddock as government chief whip late on Friday, replacing him with Queensland MP Scott Buchholz.

But what has been interpreted as a veiled swipe at Mr Ruddock, Mr Abbott said he had been too busy with the economy and national security issues to be aware of the unrest brewing on his backbench.

“Plainly, I wasn’t as aware as I should have been of all of this. I never want to find myself in this position ever again,” Mr Abbott told The Bolt Report on Sunday.

“I’m confident that with the (new) whip’s team we’ve got, I will be very much aware of what’s going on inside the party.”

Tasmanian Andrew Nikolic has also been appointed a government whip in the shake-up, which Mr Abbott said would provide a “deeper and stronger” engagement with coalition backbenchers.

“I suppose last year I was so focused on economic security issues, on national security issues, that I didn’t have enough time to talk to my colleagues. This obviously was a terrible mistake. It was a terrible failing. It’s not something that I’m ever going to repeat,” he said.

“One of the reasons why I’ve made some changes to the whip’s office is because I do want a much stronger relationship with the backbench in the future than I’ve had in the recent past.”

The decision to sack Mr Ruddock has been criticised by one Liberal MP, Andrew Laming, who says taking retribution on the Father of the House had dashed hopes for healing after Monday’s divisive leadership vote.

Mr Ruddock has rejected Mr Laming’s suggestions that he had been made a scapegoat “of Godzilla proportions”.

However, he indicated the PM had not expressed any concerns about his performance as chief whip. He has so far refused to comment on the reasons for his sacking.

“My expectation is that if the Prime Minister had concerns about the way I undertook the task, he would put them to me,” he told Sky News.