Former prime minister Tony Abbott says he does not expect the Liberal party to "ever go back" to his leadership.

The former Liberal leader, who lost his job to Malcolm Turnbull, said "bruises have subsided and the wounds have healed" since losing the leadership ballot in September 2015.

Mr Abbott told Sky News he accepted the decision of the party and wanted to help be a standard-bearer for conservative members of the Liberal party.

"Political parties don't go back, the Abbott era has been, and I think my role is to be occasionally, perhaps, an elder statesman," he said.

"[I'll be] certainly a very vigorous and forthright member for Warringah — where I can be a help to my colleagues in this campaign I will be — but that's my role going forward.

"I accept the party made a decision back on September 14 last year and I don't expect the party to ever go back on that decision."

Mr Abbott said his family would have preferred he quit politics, but instead put his hand up for preselection in the safe Liberal seat of Warringah.

The former Liberal leader said while he willingly admitted to making mistakes, he was confident the achievements of his government would "stand the test of time".

The former prime minister also issued a warning over the increasing level of Government debt, ahead of next week's federal budget.

Mr Abbott said the greatest mistake he made as Liberal leader was to abolish the government's debt ceiling soon after winning office in 2013.

He stressed the issue remained a "fundamental challenge" for the Government.

"Yes, we love to spend money on important things, we have to spend money, but we've got to raise the revenue to pay for it and if we want to get taxes down, if we want to increase incentive, obviously we've got try to get spending under much better control than it is right now," Mr Abbott said.