Dumped prime minister Tony Abbott is no Kevin Rudd and the Liberal party is not like Labor, cabinet minister Mathias Cormann says.
Senator Cormann was responding to concerns about tensions inside the Turnbull government and Labor claims the Liberal Party is at war with itself.
"Tony Abbott is no Kevin Rudd so you don't see the same at this stage - and I don't expect we would ever be like the Labor party, we are a very united team," he told Sky News on Friday.
Senator Cormann says there are "obviously" some issues still being worked through within the party in the wake of the leadership change to Malcolm Turnbull.
But to compare that with the battles between former Labor leaders Julia Gillard and Mr Rudd would not be right.
Former Howard government minister Peter Reith disagrees, especially in light of Mr Abbott's "flabbergasted" comments about the government's defence white paper.
"I don't think there is any doubt that Tony's remarks were a classic case of deliberate destabilisation," he told Sky News.
That sort of behaviour in an election year would go down very badly with some of Mr Abbott's colleagues, especially those hanging on to their seats.
"They will not be pleased with him."
When asked whether Mr Abbott was causing instability, cabinet minister Michaelia Cash said he was part of the team.
"The wonderful thing about the Liberal Party, as opposed to the Labor Party, is that we encourage our members to have an opinion," she told reporters in Melbourne.
"Sometimes the opinion may get us a little bit of attention but at the end of the day we encourage people to have an opinion."
Senator Cash cited as an example this week's resignation of Joe Bullock, who disagreed with being bound to support Labor policy on same-sex marriage.
