Crossbenchers say it's the policies, not the leader

Key crossbench senators whose votes the government needs to pass legislation insist it makes little difference to them who is leading the Liberal Party if its policies do not dramatically change.

South Australian Nick Xenophon said the government's woes in passing legislation through the Upper House, including key aspects of its controversial 2014 budget, would not necessarily change under a different leader.

"My issue is with the policies, not the personalities I've been dealing with. They could put my besties [best friends] in as ministers and it wouldn't make any difference," he said.

"If the PM is still hell-bent on building submarines in Japan, he will make an enemy of me and every South Australian."

Senator Xenophon said Tony Abbott's leadership woes were unlikely to go away regardless of the outcome of the spill motion vote on Monday morning.

"I don't think it will be over, whatever the outcome," he said.

NSW Liberal Democratic Senator David Leyonhjelm similarly said: "I don't think it [the leadership] makes a whole lot of difference … In the end it's the policies they put up".

Senator Leyonhjelm said that the government under Mr Abbott had been slow to reach out to the crossbenchers. This had improved in recent months and couldn't be expected to be any worse under a different prime minister, he said.

"They need to make more effort to speak to us earlier rather than later but you would assume that a change of leader wouldn't adversely affect that."

He said same-sex marriage was the one obvious area where Malcolm Turnbull was more in tune with the Liberal Democratic Party's views than Mr Abbott.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie and Palmer United Party senator Glenn Lazarus have both previously said they would like to see a change from Mr Abbott.

Victorian crossbencher John Madigan said he opposed any leadership change. He dismissed the current tussle as a distraction and blasted the Liberal Party for not focusing on the key issues such as unemployment.

"Everybody makes mistakes. Tony Abbott has made mistakes … I don't believe changing the leader is what's good for the country," he said. "Let's talk about the issues, not all this bloody self-indulgent stuff. This is just a bloody distraction and the public is sick of it."

Senator Xenophon said politicians in Canberra were too inwardly focused and were not listening to the Australian people – a pattern from the Labor era that was continuing under the Coalition.

"It's like a bad dream that is reprising itself, only with different protagonists … I despair as I think most of the country does. There are issues we're just not tackling."