Mr Coulton made the comment to the ABC Tuesday morning, but by lunchtime was declining to speak to other media outlets.

Malcolm Turnbull defeated Tony Abbott in a Liberal Party leadership ballot, 54 votes to 44 on Monday night.

"I am disappointed that the Liberal Party chose to change Tony Abbott because the overwhelming number of emails I'm getting are that they don't want Tony to change," Mr Coulton told the ABC.

"Personally I thought Tony Abbott was a very good man and I thought that in the last two years we have done a lot for regional Australia."

On Monday before the leadership spill, Mr Coulton told the Daily Liberal Mr Abbott had delivered good results for rural and regional voters.

"He was very supportive of the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, he came to Bourke and we got some policies in place for farmers around household support," Ms Coulton said.

He said Mr Abbott was also very supportive of Inland Rail.

Mr Coulton said he would not make changes based on a bad response in the polls.

"Being the Prime Minister of Australia is not a popularity contest. It's not about seeing who's going to be voted off the island because we've had a survey of the viewers," he said.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been elected deputy, defeating a challenge by Kevin Andrews 70-30.

Mr Turnbull said he would serve out the Coalition's remaining year in office before calling an election, promised a new economic vision and thanked Mr Abbott for his service.

He said the burden of leadership was a heavy one.

In his final speech as Prime Minister, Mr Abbott said it was a tough day, but when you join the game, you accept the rules.

"I want our government and our country to succeed. I always have and I always will," he said.

Mr Turnbull met with the ministry on Tuesday morning but a cabinet reshuffle has been delayed until next week.