Abetz rejects Liberal 'powerbroker' title

Senior Liberal senator Eric Abetz has downplayed his role in the Tasmanian party's hierarchy, insisting he's no "king or queen maker".

Lamenting his own and his state colleagues' exclusion from the federal government's new-look ministry, Senator Abetz - who was No.1 on the party's upper house double dissolution ticket - on Wednesday declined to name future federal candidates.

"It would once again reinforce the nonsense that I am somehow the powerbroker that anoints people to these positions and I don't," he told ABC radio.