Former cabinet minister Kevin Andrews has described Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as "leader at the moment" and suggested the government is failing to provide strong and decisive leadership.

Mr Andrews, a staunch conservative ally of former prime minister Tony Abbott who helped end Mr Turnbull's first stint as leader of the Liberal Party in 2009, said there was "no move to change him that I'm aware of".

Asked by ABC what he meant when he described Mr Turnbull as "leader at the moment", Mr Andrews said: "He's the leader, he's the Prime Minister. I'm simply saying he's the Prime Minister. But what we have at the moment is a clear frustration on the part of the Australian public that they're not getting what they want and whoever the leader is, they need to be responding to this."

Mr Andrews was dumped by Mr Turnbull from the defence portfolio in 2015.