Tony Abbott has seized on comments made by former Labor leader Kevin Rudd to predict that next year's election campaign will be the "filthiest and most personal" in living memory.

Mr Rudd said the public was "deeply disappointed" with the way MPs on both sides of the political divide have behaved recently, and it was time for more civility in the national debate.

The former prime minister was himself the target of a fierce attack on his character by fellow Labor MPs earlier this year after he launched a leadership challenge against Julia Gillard.

The Opposition Leader has leapt on Mr Rudd's latest criticism to continue his attack on what he describes as the Prime Minister's "politics of personal destruction".

"I can fully understand why Kevin Rudd has called an end to personal attacks because, let's face it, the most savage personal attacks of all are those that the Prime Minister and her ministers mounted on Kevin Rudd," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne.

"One of the reasons why I can say with absolute confidence that the next election campaign will be the filthiest and the most personal in living memory is because you just have to look at how Labor treats its own to see how they're going to treat their political opponents in a very hard fought election contest."

The past fortnight has been dominated by a fierce debate about the existence of sexism and misogyny in the Parliament, with much of the criticism focused on Mr Abbott.

But Mr Rudd said voters were more interested in everyday issues such as the economy and health care.

"There are debates to be had about people's attitudes to questions of gender, but I believe they are part of a much broader mix of more basic questions which families in Australia are concerned about," he said.

"They are more deeply concerned about the bread-and-butter, back-to-basics issues that confront families which is 'will I have a job?'.

"I think the Australian people would much rather our nation came together than was constantly pulling itself apart."

He said the time had come for all sides of Parliament to lift their game, explaining that there could be long-term impacts if that did not happen.

"I worry about the people losing faith in our democracy altogether, so frankly I think the season has come for us to lift ourselves above the ruck.

"We are 12 months out from an election - what are the competing visions, what are the competing policies and I believe our side of politics offers the most compelling narrative for this country's future."