Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has vowed to under promise and over deliver just like John Howard if he is elected as prime minister.

Mr Abbott made his promise on The Project during his first appearance for well over a year.

He had not appeared on the Ten Network program for 468 days, leaving shadow treasurer Joe Hockey to represent the coalition on the show.

The program's presenters had launched a Facebook page and a twitter hashtag #talktoustony to try and woo Mr Abbott back to the airwaves.

On Tuesday the opposition leader returned saying: "I thought if I kept you waiting for a while you'd be grateful to finally get me".

"Joe does so well on The Project... it took me a while to get permission off Joe to come on the program."

Mr Abbott said people wanted to be proud of their prime minister.

"Just like my mentor John Howard I want to under promise and over deliver.

"That's my objective between now and polling day."

The program's presenters played clips of Al Gore dismissing the coalition's direct action plan as a real alternative to the carbon tax.

Mr Abbott said Mr Gore may know a bit about the United States but not necessarily Australia.

The opposition leader said the coalition was "fair dinkum" about climate change.

He chortled about vision of himself and his deputy Julie Bishop walking down the aisle from a morning church service on Tuesday.

"People might have thought that we were pretty involved," Mr Abbott said.

"It's a terrific political marriage but it doesn't go from the party room to any other room."