Mr Abbott, in his first public comments on the defamation case since the hearing began on Monday. replied his government was hardworking and that the question was unreasonable.

"Prime Minister, the Treasurer has spent two days in court fighting a defamation case," the journalist asked. "We are not paying for this case but we are paying for him. Given the government's economic policies, is this a waste of taxpayer resources?"

During a visit to an electrical company in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on Tuesday, Mr Abbott was asked if Mr Hockey's two days spent in court rather than the office were a waste of taxpayer's money.

An article in News Corp publications on Tuesday claimed friends of Mr Hockey believe the case "has consumed him".

"I think anyone who knows the Treasurer knows that he was working all weekend so I suppose maybe he is having a bit of time off in lieu today," Mr Abbott said.

"But the fact is every member of this government works incredibly hard, incredibly hard, as you'd expect and I think it's pretty unreasonable, if I may say so, for people to start bandying around that kind of question."

Parliament is not sitting this week but reconvenes next week.

On Monday, Mr Hockey's barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, said his client often took harsh criticism, even falsehoods, on the chin because he understood the "rough and tumble" of politics.

But just as his colleagues Mr Abbott and Peter Costello and their wives had once sued over the claims of sexual impropriety - which "no man" could have allowed to go unanswered - Hockey had to mount this case because: "He has a spotless reputation for integrity. No-one has suggested that he has been 'for sale' before."