Prime Minister Tony Abbott Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "It's not often that something like this happens 16 or 17 months into the life of the government," he said. Asked whether he still retained confidence in his senior ministers and Mr Hockey, the Prime Minister declined to answer the question. "Who wouldn't be nervous after watching the result in Queensland," Mr Abbott replied, referring to the recent state election in which the LNP government looks to have been turfed out in a landslide loss after just one term. "So all of us are determined to lift our game and the fundamental point I'll make is that the solution to all of these things is good government," he said.

"I am confident that as of today we're back at work." Opposition Leader Bill Shorten capitalised on the Prime Minister's earlier reluctance in question time. "Is the Prime Minister planning to abandon any of his budget measures or is he just planning to abandon his Treasurer as he did in his press conference today?" Mr Abbott responded: "I stand by my Treasurer, I stand by my team." Mr Abbott described the government's first budget as "perhaps too bold and too ambitious" and said the Coalition would no longer pick fights on policies it couldn't get through the Senate.

"We will not buy fights with the Senate that we can't win, unless we are absolutely determined that they are the fights that we really, really do need to have," he said. He did not directly answer a question about whether or not he had promised his colleagues a turnaround in the government's fortunes within six months but said he was confident to do better when confronted by tests over "the next few months". "I've listened, I've learned and I've changed and the government will change with me," he said. But when asked how he intended to resolve the tension surrounding his controversial chief of staff Peta Credlin, who many MPs and ministers say micro-manages the government's affairs, Mr Abbott said: "All of us have had to have a good hard look at ourselves." Ms Credlin has been noticeably absent from Mr Abbott's public appearances in recent days, including his major address to the National Press Club and from the question time advisor's box in Parliament. She did not attend cabinet this week.

"Me, my cabinet colleagues, my ministerial colleagues, my senior staff, we are all resolved to do better," he said. Ms Credlin is married to the federal director of the Liberal Party, Brian Loughnane. Veteran MP Warren Entsch has previously described the party's current arrangement as untenable as it prevents issues about either the party administration or the Prime Minister's office being raised with the other. But when asked if he intended to resolve the conflict of interest, Mr Abbott said the pair's relationship had not stopped the Coalition from winning government or negotiating free trade agreements. "I say to people my door is open, I am available to people and if they're anxious about talking to person X or anxious about talking to person Y they can talk to me," he said.