Joe Hockey has finally found a friend.

After a week of defending his position of federal treasurer in the wash-up of the failed Liberal party leadership spill, Mr Hockey still has the backing of a Liberal stalwart.

Peter Costello, the nation’s longest serving Liberal treasurer, believes Mr Hockey is the best hope for the Abbott government to deliver the budget.

“I do not see any basis whatsoever for changing Joe Hockey,” Mr Costello told Network Ten on Sunday.

He said Mr Hockey was now in budget deliberations and would bring out the intergenerational report later this month that would show we were taking from the future.

“Put the budget in that argument, in that context, and then go out and argue why you need to do these things,” Mr Costello said.

However, former NSW state Labor treasurer Michael Costa was less complimentary, saying Mr Hockey “couldn’t sell water in a desert”.