Julia Banks thumbs Abbott as coup ringleader

Tony Abbott was the ringleader of the campaign to turf Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, Liberal-turned-independent MP Julia Banks says.

The crossbencher also named Greg Hunt - the health minister and Banks' direct opponent at the next election - as a "prime mover" in the August 2018 coup.

"It was certainly led by Tony Abbott," Ms Banks told Ten's The Project on Sunday.

"Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton, Greg Hunt, they were the prime movers.

"People were making their vote based on promises of promotion or promises of ministerial appointments."

Mr Turnbull has previously said the insurgency was led by Mr Dutton and "strongly supported" by Mr Abbott, the man he deposed as prime minister in 2015.

Mr Abbott backed Mr Dutton's failed bid for the top job but has said Mr Morrison's replacement of Mr Turnbull put Australia in a better position.

Ms Banks said Julie Bishop's CV would beat those of Mr Dutton and current prime minister Scott Morrison "in the business world".

"If you lay it out on the table ... you'd turf the other two out," the first-term Victorian MP said.

"Julie Bishop is the prime minister we should have had and we never will have."

Ms Banks declined to say if Mr Abbott or Mr Morrison were among the unnamed Liberal MPs she says bullied or intimidated her during the coup.

"I don't think I have to describe anything to the Australian public about Tony Abbott. It is very well documented," she said.

"Scott Morrison is a deeply religious man, he's very traditional."

Later in a panel at the All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House, Ms Banks said the Liberal Party had "stopped in time" in terms of gender equality.

"In my three years (in the Liberal Party), it was some sort of hybrid TV show between Mad Men and House of Cards," she said.