Abbott ally takes aim at Turnbull

Tony Abbott's key business adviser has taken a pot shot at Malcolm Turnbull, labelling the new prime minister a postmodern kind of guy - more at home in inner-city cafes than in budgie smugglers and firefighting uniforms.

Maurice Newman says Mr Turnbull has signalled his soft liberal credentials, citing tax increases for the rich and fresh attention to climate change polices.

"Now, both major parties are guilty of Machiavellian plotting and behaviour unbefitting of high office," the former chairman of the prime minister's business advisory council wrote in The Australian on Tuesday.