It was about half-way through Monday night's interview with 7.30 host Leigh Sales when Malcolm Turnbull took exception to the term "knifed" and urged the media to avoid using "violent metaphors" to describe political tussles.

But Hansard footage has emerged on Tuesday morning showing the Prime Minister twice used the same term to attack his political opponent.

"Knifed" is a term commonly used by media since 2010 to describe leadership spills involving deposed former prime ministers Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and more recently, Tony Abbott.