Australians have no time for "wreckers", Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says, in a thinly veiled attack on his predecessor Tony Abbott.

The Coalition has been dogged by infighting and allegations of division this week, as the former Liberal leader took to the airwaves and speeches at conservative think tanks to voice his vision for government.

Senior Liberals rallied around Mr Turnbull, with the Prime Minister arguing the Australian people were more interested in what was impacting their family budget than the politics at play within his party.

"[Australians] are sick of politics, and sick of personalities," Mr Turnbull wrote in an opinion piece for News Corp newspapers across the country.

"Frankly, so am I. This is a time for builders, not wreckers."

The language is a nod to that of Mr Abbott, who made a promise upon being ousted from the nation's top job.

"My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can," he said during his final press conference in the Prime Minister's courtyard in September 2015.

"There will be no wrecking, no undermining, and no sniping.

"I've never leaked or backgrounded against anyone, and I certainly won't start now."

'Inelegant week' for the Coalition

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 13 minutes 13 m Liberal senator James Paterson talks about the "inelegant" week for the Government.

Mr Abbott's sharpest barbs have been made in the public domain.

This week he reminded his colleagues and the nation he was in "no hurry" to leave politics, describing it as his "vocation".

Liberal senator James Paterson conceded it had been an "inelegant week" for the Coalition.

"[Mr Abbott is] not solely to blame. I'm a backbencher who has from time to time utilised the freedom of the backbench to speak out on ideas, so I'm never going to suggest any other backbench colleague shouldn't be allowed do that," he told the ABC's Lateline.

"But when I choose to speak out on issues that are important to me and close to my heart I do so judiciously.

"I don't do it every week, I don't do it on every issue — if I did and if my other colleagues did, a functioning government would cease to exist.

"We have to be very measured and careful how we speak out if we are going to choose to."