MALCOLM TURNBULL will address the National Press Club tomorrow amid a call from a conservative magazine for him to step down from the Coalition's frontbench.

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, who has headed overseas on holiday, warned his communications spokesman last week to stick to his portfolio.

Mr Turnbull, who last week said he would not be gagged, said his speech would be within the confines of his portfolio.

An editorial in The Spectator Australia says Mr Turnbull's views on climate change have put him out of sync with the party mainstream.

And if he could not bring himself to support the opposition's policy, ''there can be no place for him on Mr Abbott's frontbench'', it said.

The Spectator is edited by Tom Switzer, who was an adviser to the former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson until Mr Turnbull took over in 2008.

''He may be the darling of the Canberra press pack and he may be Labor voters' favourite,'' the editorial says. ''But the Coalition mainstream has come to see him as vain, irrelevant, opportunistic and a walking affront to all they believe in.''

Mr Turnbull dismissed the editorial, saying Mr Switzer has had ''an axe to grind'' against him for years.

Mr Abbott, after spending much of last week chiding Julia Gillard for taking two days off the carbon-tax campaign trail, has flown to Europe.

''I will be taking a long-planned, short break with my family,'' he said in a statement, adding that his deputy, Julie Bishop, and the Nationals leader, Warren Truss, would maintain the Coalition campaign against the carbon tax.

When Ms Gillard failed to make any public appearances last week, Mr Abbott accused her of hiding in her office and refusing to talk to the people.

Mr Abbott is expected to be away for more than a week, meaning his plans to spend a week with an Aboriginal community, which he first postponed three weeks ago, have been shelved again.

Also out of action is the Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, who underwent surgery yesterday to replace a transplanted heart valve. Doctors said the operation was a success but Mr Rudd would not be back to full speed for about two months.