'Straighten your tiara': Jane Hume breaks her silence over her demotion

Senator Hume told Seven's Sunrise that the loss of her portfolio "hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition."

"If you're asking me whether I've been ... I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course, it hurts," she said.

"It hurts personally, too - because, you know, Sussan and I are friends."

But, the Victorian senator who, like the opposition leader, is a moderate Liberal, said: "This isn't the playground. This is the Parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference."

She made the comments after being asked if her demotion was "payback" for her role in announcing and advocating for the Coalition's short-lived work-from-home policy during the election campaign.

Former opposition leader Peter Dutton retracted the policy to force public servants back to the office full-time after a public backlash, particularly from private-sector women who feared it would be expanded to deprive them of workplace flexibility.

Senator Hume said her demotion would afford her more freedom to speak her mind.

"There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points," she said.

Ms Ley appointed Senator James Paterson, also from Victoria but aligned with the Liberal Party's national right faction, as finance and public service spokesperson.

Senator Paterson was the Coalition campaign spokeperson during the election and is seen by senior colleagues as having performed well in communicating the messages of a flawed campaign.

Ms Ley has resisted probing over her decision to demote Senator Hume in multiple interviews after announcing her frontbench.

Asked by ABC News Breakfast on Thursday if Senator Hume had been "punished, for her policy advocacy, on work from home", she said: "People can reflect on a range of things. This is not about that."

"This is about putting the best team on the field and respecting Jane's talents, everyone's talents," Ms Ley said.

"The communication skills of so many of my team mean that they will feature prominently, across the debate, and carry that argument and that advocacy forward."

Senator Paterson told the ABC on Thursday when asked if he felt "uncomfortable" about being handed Senator Hume's former role: "It is always a bit awkward in politics."

"There always is a transition and a handover, often from someone who didn't want to leave their portfolio or is expecting to do a different role," he said.

"All I can do, though, is work constructively with Jane to continue the good work that she did with her team in the portfolio, and now to hold Labor to account for their performance in this area."

He praised Senator Hume as "a great communicator for our party [and] a tough person", saying he counted her as "a friend and someone I really admire ... not just a colleague."

"Political careers are not linear anymore. There are often sidesteps on the journey, and I'm very confident that Jane will be back in a senior role in due course."

Senator Paterson said he was disappointed for former education minister Sarah Henderson, who was dumped from the shadow cabinet.

As for Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's complaint that frontbench positions were not handed out "on merit" after being given the less prominent position of defence industry spokesperson, he said: "I'd be lying if I said merit is the only consideration."

"This is a political process and leaders have to balance states, they have to balance the House of Representatives with the Senate, they have to balance gender, they have to balance the philosophical composition of their party rooms ... It is a messy process sometimes."

Senator Hume vowed to continue to "fight for the future of your kids, my kids, their kids, for freedom and choice and personal responsibility and reward for effort and the importance of small business and the dangers of big government."

"I will continue to do that every day from whatever position I am in," she said, calling on all members of the Opposition to "get behind Sussan Ley, put our shoulders to the wheel."

"There's a very big task ahead of us. Not only to win back the hearts and minds and votes of Australians, but also to hold this terrible government to account," Senator Hume said.

"That's exactly what I am going to be doing every day, and every single one of my colleagues are going to be doing every day.

"As my very wise mother would say, 'Stop your nonsense, chin up, chest out, straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job'."