Mr Abbott also spruiked his "fair dinkum" paid parental leave scheme, which he promised would be introduced to the Parliament in 2015. However, doubts remain about whether the Prime Minister's pet project will pass the Senate, or even receive the support of a hostile Liberal party room.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended the number of women in senior positions in his government. Credit:Andrew Meares

Mr Abbott also said he was proud to elevate a number of women in Sunday's reshuffle. NSW MP Sussan Ley will now be the second woman in his cabinet, joining Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, after taking charge of the health and sport portfolios. Victorian MP Kelly O'Dwyer was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, and Queensland MP Karen Andrews was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science.

In a later interview on Sunrise, Mr Abbott was forced to defend the level of female representation in government. Host Natalie Barr asked the Prime Minister: "With 30 per cent of women in your government aren't you a little bit embarrassed that you only have two women on your frontbench?"

"We have actually seven women on the frontbench," Mr Abbott said. "We have got two cabinet ministers, two outer ministry ministers and three parliamentary secretaries so look, there are women in the corridors of power. This will become more and more the case. The challenge for all of us, Nat, is to get more women into public life, more women into the Parliament [and] once we have got more women in the Parliament, we will have more women in the ministry and more women in the cabinet."