Tony Abbott has admitted voters were feeling "dismayed, disappointed, and occasionally even surprised" at the way his government was performing, as he tried to explain bad polls and broken promises.

But with his own popularity low and the government trailing the opposition by double digits in recent polls, he would fight on rather than step down in the interests of his party if it became clear he was part of the problem.

"I think the one fundamental lesson of the last catastrophic government was that you don't lightly change leaders," he said.

Reviving John Howard's notion of core and non-core promises, he said he had "fundamentally honoured the core commitments, which were to stop the boats, repeal the carbon tax, build the roads, and begin the task of budget repair".