There are further signs of disarray within the government with frontbenchers publicly contradicting each other over whether or not the GP co-payment has been scrapped.

Shortly after staring down an attempt to oust him from the Prime Ministership, Tony Abbott pledged that "good government" would begin this week.

But he has since been beset by internal confusion about the future of the GP fee and pursued by the opposition over how the government plans to buy new submarines.

This has been backed up with conflicting messages about the fate of the GP co-payment. On Monday, the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary Alan Tudge twice said Tony Abbott had scrapped the GP co-payment and repeated his claim in a radio interview with the ABC on Thursday.