Former prime minister Tony Abbott says the Coalition should still direct preferences to One Nation ahead of Labor and the Greens, despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison's change of heart following revelations about the party's links to the US gun lobby.

A spokesman said Mr Abbott stood by his remarks at Pauline Hanson's book launch last year, when he said the government had worked constructively with One Nation and advocated placing the right-wing party favourably on how-to-vote cards.

Tony Abbott launched Pauline Hanson's book in Parliament House in March 2018. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"I think that you should preference in the order of people's capacity to make a constructive contribution to our national life," the former prime minister said in March 2018.

"Based on the current record I would put the Greens last, I would put Labor second last, then I would put constructive independents and minor parties and then I would put the Coalition and its allies first."