Tony Abbott says his government should have pursued less ambitious reform of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, in comments that will re-open debate in the conservative wing of the Liberal Party about changing the Act and potentially create a new headache for Malcolm Turnbull.

In a speech to the Samuel Griffith Society in Adelaide on Friday, Mr Abbott also lamented Australia's "hyper-partisan" politics and surprisingly suggested that while opposition leader in 2011, he should have allowed Julia Gillard's government to implement its so-called Malaysian solution and send up to 800 asylum seekers to that country, to deter the flow of asylum seeker boats.

The former prime minister is also strongly critical of Liberal state premiers, including NSW leader Mike Baird and former Victorian Liberal leader Denis Napthine, who opposed the harsh cuts to schools and hospitals in the 2014 federal budget.

Crossbench senators David Leyonhjelm and Bob Day have both flagged they will introduce legislation to, respectively, abolish section 18C of the RDA, which makes it illegal to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" a person, or in Senator Day's case to remove the words "offend" and "insult" from the controversial clause.