Tony Abbott has revealed he plans to stay in politics for as long as he’s welcome and admits he still has eyes on the top job. 

When quizzed on what the future holds for the former Prime Minister, Mr Abbott tells Mark Levy he’s actually quite enjoying being a backbencher… for now.

“One of the plusses of being on the back bench is that I can speak my mind.

“As long as the Party and the people of Warringah want me, I can see myself staying for quite some time because I’m just 60, I think I’m a young 60.

“Sure, I guess it’s unusual for a Former Prime Minister to come back, you could really only come back if you were drafted by your party.

“But let’s just see how things work out.”

Mr Abbott also warned Labor to think carefully about changing leaders on the back of bad opinion polls.

The latest Newspoll shows support for Opposition leader Bill Shorten has dwindled, furthering rumours he could be replaced ahead of the next federal election.

Mr Abbott says it’s not a good idea for any party to go down that path.

“You can easily make a bad situation worse by changing leaders. You can easily generate such transaction costs that you go backwards, not forwards.

“I’m not a big fan of running around assassinating the leader.”

The former PM also took a swing at Independent Senator David Leyonheljm over crude and aggressive comments directed at Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young in parliament on Thursday.

“Having made a tacky comment, the bloke should apologise.

“All of us I suppose get carried away but when you make a mistake, fix it. Fix it as fast as you can.

“Leyonhjelm goes on Sky on the weekend and in a very smug and self-righteous way repeats the damn thing.”

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