The Liberal Party remains the best hope for an alternative government despite undergoing an "existential crisis", newly elected president Tony Abbott says.
The former prime minister's role was made formal at the party's federal council meeting in Melbourne on Friday.
"I owe the Liberal Party big time and that's why I regard it as my duty to serve the party in this time of existential crisis," Mr Abbott told the gathering.
"As the last successful federal leader of the opposition, I do believe that I have the ability to help Angus Taylor to be the next successful federal leader of the opposition."
Mr Abbott led the coalition to a landslide election victory in 2013 before being replaced as leader two years later.
