Liberal leader Angus Taylor would welcome the political return of Josh Frydenberg, despite the former treasurer attacking the job he is doing.

Frydenberg used a rare TV interview to criticise Taylor’s handling of the Liberal Party, saying he had contributed to Liberal polling being at an “all-time low”.

“Things have to change, because there’s something existential about the threat that I think the party now faces,” he told Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday.

“[Taylor is] getting [criticism] from lots of corners. People are saying that the Liberal Party needs to do better.”

Frydenberg’s memoir, A Grateful Son, will be published this week. Excerpts from it have fuelled rumours that he is planning a political comeback.

“I certainly haven’t closed the door, but I don’t need to rush to a decision. The next election is 18 months away,” he said.

Despite the criticism, Taylor said his former Liberal colleague would be welcomed back into the fold should he decide to run.

“I welcome every Liberal who cares about the future of our nation – and I know Josh does – to put shoulder to the wheel in the coming months to get rid of a rotten Labor government and make the change that Australia needs happen,” he said in Canberra on Monday.

“I ask all Liberals and Nationals and people who are supportive of our view about where the country needs to go … to get in there and help in any way they can.”

Frydenberg held the seat of Kooyong for 12 years from 2010 and was treasurer in the Morrison government, including through Covid-19.

In 2022, he lost the seat to independent MP Monique Ryan when she won almost 53 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.

Ryan appeared unfazed by her competition’s possible return.

“I’m not bothered either way,” she told Nine’s Today program.

“Josh does have a track record with the Kooyong community.

“He was the member for that seat for 12 years, and in 2022, our community rejected him because they were so frustrated with his inability to affect any change to government policy on climate change.

“People were unhappy with his economic management.”

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson encouraged people to “put themselves forward” as candidates to create a stronger Liberal Party.

“I encourage them to do so, so they can be part of a winning team. So we can have an Angus Taylor-led government,” he told ABC Radio.

“What we need is people who’ve got courage in their hearts and are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary for public office.”

‘No time for him’: Hanson’s Liberal leader pick

Earlier, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson offered her own suggestion for who should leave the Liberals – despite polling finding voters are cooling on her populist party.

The Australian‘s Newspoll on Monday showed One Nation’s primary vote had fallen from 30 per cent to 28 per cent.

It was the party’s lowest level since core support hit 27 per cent in May and a drop of three points since achieving a record high of 31 per cent in June.

Hanson’s likeability also took a dive. Her net approval rating fell to -9, with 43 per cent of voters satisfied with her performance and 52 per cent dissatisfied.

That compares to late August, when 47 per cent of voters said they were satisfied with Hanson’s performance and 48 per cent expressed dissatisfaction.

The primary votes of Labor (29 per cent), One Nation (28 per cent) and the Coalition (20 per cent) were all in the 20s for the first time on record.

In a separate Resolve Political Monitor poll, One Nation’s primary vote was down by two percentage points in the past month and four points since the middle of the year.

The survey for Nine newspapers found voters’ views on who would win the next election shifted significantly, with those expecting One Nation to win falling by eight percentage points to 20 per cent.

On Saturday, Hanson emerged as a crowd favourite at the Australian Conservative Political Action Conference in Brisbane as the Coalition and One Nation vied for the fractured right-wing vote.

Hanson made jibes about her conservative rivals while also offering to “put personal history aside” and team up with the Coalition to remove Labor from government.

She said she did not “want to be around the table” with the Liberals. However, she said they should still work together to get rid of Labor as it would be extremely hard for either One Nation or the Coalition to govern alone.

Hanson had already dismissed Taylor – a former partner at global consulting firm McKinsey & Company – as a “smarmy management consultant”. On Saturday, she described Wilson – another Liberal leadership hopeful – as “full of himself” and “woke”.

“He put us last in the last election, called us a racist party,” she told News24.

“If they’re thinking about Tim Wilson, I think you better think again because I’ve got no time for that man.”

Hanson said she got on “reasonably well” with Frydenberg.

But she said former prime minister and current party president Tony Abbott was the person with the best chance of leading the Liberals.

Some mainstream journalists at CPAC were given “fake news” media passes and were not allowed to put questions to leaders at the conference. Others were refused entry outright.

CPAC was imported to Australia from the US in 2019.

-with AAP