Abbott cabinet call 'akin to Shrek donkey'

Tony Abbott's latest musings about a return to cabinet have done nothing to impress Greens MP Adam Bandt, who has likened the former prime minister to the pestering sidekick in a Pixar film.

Coalition MPs have lined up to argue frontbench picks are solely the prime minister's purview after Mr Abbott said he could work in a Turnbull government cabinet, but Mr Bandt said enough was enough.

"Tony Abbott is a bit like that donkey from Shrek who's jumping around any saying, 'Pick me, pick me'," Mr Bandt told reporters in Canberra on Monday. "It's about time that we just say, 'That'll do Tony, that'll do'."