Anonymous leaks have renewed leadership speculation in the Liberal Party and sparked further controversy in the children in immigration detention saga.

On Thursday night, “Canberra insiders” targeted key journalists in an apparent attempt to win over public opinion.

Less than three weeks after Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived a leadership spill, another vote was foreshadowed.

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The Seven Network and the ABC reported that Malcolm Turnbull had been told he has the numbers to topple Mr Abbott, based on secret sources.

Speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Mr Turnbull denounced the leaks.

“I abhor leaks of any kind by any part of the party,” he said.

Abbott supporters blamed the reports on the same few disaffected MPs responsible for the last challenge.

A similar claim, proven false, was sent to journalists in early February, just before Liberal MPs voted 61-39 to defeat a motion to declare leadership positions vacant.

But the Communications Minister has in recent days distanced himself from the PM’s attack on the human rights commission.

On Thursday night, Human Rights Commission president Professor Gillian Triggs was forced to deny that it was her who had asked for an inducement to resign her position.

The new claim was made by two senior journalists on Sky News, who relied on tip-offs from ‘multiple’ sources.

In a statement issued through her office, Professor Triggs said she “categorically denies any suggestion that the issue of a job offer and resignation came at her instigation.”

Federal police are examining whether the professor was offered an inducement to quit her post, after the government attacked her scathing report on the mental health of young asylum seekers in detention as “politically motivated”.

The allegations have plagued Mr Abbott and other members of his frontbench for days.

Some commentators have speculated the Prime Minister’s continued attacks on the professor have further weakened his popularity within his own party.

In contrast, Mr Turnbull has sought to steer public debate back onto what he has said is the more important issue: the children themselves.

“The issue is not Gillian Triggs, or personalities, or arguments about the Human Rights Commission, the issue is the children,” Mr Turnbull has been quoted as saying.

“All of us as parents in particular know how anguished it must be for children to be in these circumstances,” he said.

—with AAP.