Today Show host Lisa Wilkinson has launched a withering attack on Tony Abbott's prime ministership, declaring that his "laundry list" of own goals had prevented him from effectively leading the country.

Appearing on the ABC's Q&A on Monday night, Wilkinson said that Mr Abbott only had to look in the mirror to understand why he was experiencing so many problems, brought on by a litany of "silly" mistakes and decisions.

The journalist and presenter judged Mr Abbott to be a very good opposition leader, but accused him of hypocrisy during his 17 months in the top job.

"He was a very effective opposition leader because he was really good at tearing down the government," Wilkinson said.

"But one of the strongest messages that he would come back with during our interviews was '[former Prime Minister] Julia Gillard broke a promise, we will not break promises'.

"So we've got broken promises on no cuts to pensions, no cuts to the ABC or SBS, no cuts to education, the submarine contracts look like they've been broken. It's just been one thing after the other.

"I think the problem that Tony Abbott has now is that there are so many own goals. I mean, there's almost a laundry list now."

Also in the firing line was Mr Abbott's surprise sacking of Chief Whip Philip Ruddock, and his decision to bestow a knighthood on Prince Philip, an award she described as being "brought back from the Dark Ages".

"We've had silly mistakes and silly decisions like the knighting of Prince Philip. This is a man who has got 30 knighthoods," Wilkinson said.

"I think that if you were to poll any number of Australians walking down George Street right now and you said 'Of all of the royal family, who do you think has the closest connection to the average Aussie?' I think Prince Philip wouldn't even make the top 50.

"On the issue of Phillip Ruddock, I would have thought it's the Prime Minister's job to be in touch with his back bench. He couldn't have been reading a newspaper, and he certainly couldn't have been talking to anybody in the backbench, because we all knew, everyone in this room, everyone watching, knew that he had real issues with the backbench, and 40 per cent of the people who sat behind him don't want him there as leader."

Wilkinson delivered her scathing assessment while sitting next to Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull, who did little to allay leadership speculation during the program.

The one-time leader of the Liberal party, who was tipped to replace Mr Abbott if a leadership spill came to fruition last week, delivered a thinly-veiled criticism of the sacking of Mr Ruddock and refused to say whether he would step up to the plate if the leader's position became vacant.

The panellists also canvassed the topic of the Bali Nine duo, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who are on death row in Indonesia.

Wilkinson said she understood that many Australians believed that Chan and Sukumaran should have known the potentially fatal consequences of carrying drugs through an Indonesian airport.

"Many of those people who hold that view are from families who have suffered the consequences of drug addiction and have lost family members and seen lives destroyed," Wilkinson said.

"I am a member of a family who has gone through that, so I understand that thinking. However, make no mistake: this is state-sanctioned murder and I don't believe anybody has the right to take another person's life."