The looming stoush threatening to tear the Libs apart

FORMER Prime Minister Tony Abbott is unlikely to return to the frontbench if the Coalition is re-elected.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Adelaide talkback radio station FIVEaa on Monday morning he expected to keep his current frontbench together if re-elected.

"The ministry I take to the election ... will be the same one after the election," he said.

Mr Turnbull was asked if he saw a place for Mr Abbott on the frontbench after the election but said his existing ministry was "very strong".

"We had a pretty large reshuffle, as you know, after Warren Truss, the leader of the Nationals, retired not so long ago," Mr Turnbull said.

"It's a very strong ministry. It's got a lot of young people in it; it's got a lot of women in it compared to the past."

- ARM NEWSDESK