The Tony Abbott insurrection against the moderate overlords of the parliamentary Liberal party continues.

‘I am a member of the government and it has always been the Liberal Party tradition that backbenchers can speak their mind on policy issues,’ Abbott told his local Manly Daily newspaper this week. ‘I am just doing what is perfectly within the rights of a backbench member of our party, which is to speak out in support of the values and traditions which have traditionally been our party’s.