He was asked several times whether a Sky News report claiming Ms Bishop refused to rule out a challenge during their meeting at Sydney's Kirribilli House on Sunday was accurate. David Koch grills the Prime Minister on Sunrise. Fairfax Media revealed on Monday that Ms Bishop and Mr Turnbull have for the first time begun weighing up their options over the leadership. "Did you ask her not to challenge and did she refuse?" asked Sunrise host David Koch. "I think people find all that insider Canberra stuff so boring," Mr Abbott said.

"Did you ask her not to challenge and did she refuse?" Koch asked again. Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane addresses the media after an interview in Canberra on Sunday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen "I meet with Julie Bishop all the time…the public elected me as Prime Minister to end Labor's mess. We're not going to go back to the chaos of the Labor days," Mr Abbott replied. "Can you just answer me, did you ask Julie Bishop not to challenge and did she say no?" Koch persisted. Reports suggest the relationship between Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Prime Minister Tony Abbott has broken down. Credit:Andrew Meares

"I'm not going to play these Canberra insider games," Mr Abbott replied. "Why don't we just leave all that insider gossip to the Canberra insiders." Appearing in Sydney with his wife Margie and backbench MP Craig Laundy a few hours later, Mr Abbott said he would not be calling on a ballot, and declined to call on his deputy to rule out a challenge. Education Minister Christopher Pyne surrounded by media after defending Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Why don't we just leave all that insider gossip to the Canberra insiders "Julie and I have lots of talks as you'd expect, we're friends, we're colleagues, we're part of the leadership team and we support each other…we always have and we always will," the Prime minister told reporters.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Mr Macfarlane said it would be "helpful" if Mr Turnbull and Ms Bishop made a public statement declaring their intentions. "Well absolutely [it would be helpful], we need to see a situation where the government governs…" he told the ABC. "Well I know that Malcolm Turnbull's committed to the Prime Minister. "We need a united team at the moment…there shouldn't be a discussion about changing leaders." Mr Abbott, who will begin a two-day cabinet meeting in Canberra on Tuesday, said he was capable of learning from mistakes and declared his government would be getting "back to work" and "knuckling down".

Treasurer Joe Hockey dismissed reports about Mr Abbott and Ms Bishop's meeting as "unsourced gossip". Meanwhile, former treasurer Peter Costello has written a scathing column arguing the federal Liberal Party contributed to the defeat of the first term conservative governments in Victoria and Queensland. He also took aim at the public profile of Mr Abbott's chief of staff, Peta Credlin. "Staff are not elected. They should not be making decisions. They should not be doing media interviews. They do not need a public profile. If they gather a profile it is a mark of failure, not success," Mr Costello wrote in News Corp publications. Chatter about Mr Abbott's leadership kicked into overdrive after his decision to knight Prince Philip on Australia Day. Mr Costello wrote said the decision "completely hijacked Australia Day" and "rarely have I heard such ridicule".

Mr Abbott on Monday delegated responsibility for appointing knights and dames to the Order of Australia Council but within hours backbencher Andrew Laming issued a scathing press release declaring the move did not go far enough and proposed a private member's bill to abolish knights and dames. Mr Abbott said he did not lead a Stalinist party and people would expect a team to have "vigorous debates". Loading Follow us on Twitter Follow Latika Bourke on Facebook