Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has used an article in right-leaning magazine The Spectator to back the Turnbull government’s reform agenda, and to once again praise his own government’s record on the treatment of refugees.

Mr Abbott advised the government to push ahead with reducing the importance of income tax in the overall taxation mix.

He wrote: “Malcolm Turnbull has the advantage of being relatively unbound by previous commitments but still faces the problem of how to deal with the ‘no one can be worse off’ mindset that makes serious reform so hard.

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“Changing the tax burden from income to spending makes sense but only if overall taxes become lower, simpler and fairer.”

On his government’s refugee policy, Mr Abbott dismissed as “carping from the usual suspects” those who criticised advice he gave to European nations on how how to handle asylum seekers.

Mr Abbott said he was giving Europe respectful advice based on his own experience when he told governments to turn boats around and deny entry at the border to those with no legal right to come.

“It is the only way to prevent a tide of humanity surging through Europe and quite possibly changing it forever,” he added.