The man who was a minister in the John Howard government before going on to lead the Coalition to success in the 2013 election will talk about his experience in office and Parkes MP Mark Coulton said his good friend would keep the audience enthralled.

"I think that people are interested in hearing about his era as Prime Minister," Mr Coulton said.

"Tony is a very entertaining speaker, I think people may be surprised how relaxed he is about things when they get to meet him. I have spent time on a Pollie pedal with him and he is a down-to-earth bloke and a member of the bushfire brigade.

"I think a lot of people will be interested to hear about his role during the Howard era when he was the Health Minister and Minister for Social Services. He was quite instrumental in bringing reforms through. He's been around for a while and I think he will be very entertaining."

Mr Abbott will arrive at Dubbo next Thursday and will visit the men's shed before the dinner and will spend Friday morning with some of the young Indigenous boys who are part of the Clontarf Foundation before he leaves.

"I've been telling him about the great work that Clontarf has been doing in Dubbo and right across the west so he is going to go and do a bit of footy training with the boys early in the morning before he has to go back to Sydney," Mr Coulton said.

"He will also pop up to the men's shed, another great thing that is happening and Dubbo has a couple of great sheds so we will go and visit those guys.

"This was teed up before the election was called but it's ended up in the campaign but we have been working towards it and finding a time that was convenient for Tony. It's a brief visit but with the election called, he is on the go all the time."

The National Party dinner will be held at the Dubbo RSL Memorial Club on Thursday, May 19, starting at 7pm. Tickets are on sale until Friday, May 14 and can be purchased from Bruce Henderson by calling 02 6884 4680 or 0417 750 590 or emailing bruce.henderson@ gmhendersons.com.