Former prime minister Tony Abbott has defended the role of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, in a direct repudiation of Malcolm Turnbull’s claim that the powerful billionaire played a role in his demise and wields too much influence over Australian democracy.

In a speech to the Oxford University Student Union last month, Mr Abbott openly mocked and laughed at key events during the Liberal Party leadership crisis, saying Mr Turnbull's downfall was not a political assassination but "political suicide".

Mr Abbott bemoaned the "dog-eat-dog, snake pit culture" he said had "crept into the polity" but expressed hope that Labor and the Liberals had learnt from past leadership coups.

However, he said Mr Turnbull's demise was not part of the coup culture because it was the result of his successor's own tactics.