Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has been texting and calling Liberal MPs to urge them to refer Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to the High Court.

Mr Turnbull, who resigned from the Parliament after losing the prime ministership two weeks ago and is now sojourning in New York, has been agitating as recently as this week to have Mr Dutton referred to the court over his eligibility to sit in Parliament.

Malcolm Turnbull has been contacting Liberal MPs over the Peter Dutton saga. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Moments after Fairfax Media published revelations on Wednesday night of his texts and calls, Mr Turnbull confirmed on Twitter that he had been lobbying his colleagues, including his successor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

In his first comments on Australian politics since his ousting, he said that Mr Dutton’s case needed clarifying.