Former prime minister Tony Abbott says he was advised by his department in late 2014 "not to proceed" with the China extradition treaty because of problems with the communist country's legal system.

Mr Abbott this week spoke out against the Government's bid to ratify the decade-old deal, telling News Corp China's legal system needed to evolve further before Australia could have confidence that those extradited would face a fair trial.

However, senior Government sources told the ABC Mr Abbott repeatedly indicated to China's President Xi Jinping, during his visit to Australia in November 2014, that his Government was proceeding towards ratification.

Mr Abbott told News Corp those sources had "grievously misled" journalists, adding "I regret to say that you cannot trust senior Government sources at this time".

To bolster his argument, Mr Abbott provided details of a Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet briefing note dated December 2014 — a month after President Xi's visit — which recommended that there be "no move towards ratification … mostly because of the problems with the Chinese legal system".

Mr Abbott said the briefing note also recommended the Government convey to the Chinese that Australia will not pursue ratification at this time.

"There were other very powerful reasons for not doing it," he told News Corp, saying he replied to the note in January 2015 "agreeing not to pursue ratification".

While the former prime minister says he has seen the document, it cannot be released publicly.

Sources have told the ABC Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was given official advice that he should ratify the deal, shortly after taking over as leader.

However, he was forced to withdraw the treaty from Parliament this week and put ratification on hold after Labor announced it would side with the Greens to back Australian Conservative senator Cory Bernardi's bid to block the deal.