Malcolm Turnbull knew Mr Abbott was asleep in his office and unable to be roused after a boozy dinner with colleagues, but there was nothing he could do.
"It's clearly not acceptable or admirable in any way," he told Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio on Friday.
Then-Labor treasurer Wayne Swan also weighed in on Mr Abbott, saying his recklessness knew no bounds.
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Mr Abbott has laughed off his night in the members-only dining room in early 2009 when "quite a few bottles of wine were consumed" between three MPs.
"There was one famous occasion when Peter Costello, Kevin Andrews and I hung out rather a long time here," he will say in an upcoming episode of the ABC television series The House.
"I think quite a few bottles of wine were consumed by the three of us. Peter was close to leaving at that stage, and I think all of us were in a mellow and reflective mood, so the reflections went on for longer, and later, than they
should have."
Mr Abbott, who was a member of Mr Turnbull's then- shadow ministry, admitted he slept through several divisions.
At the time he had dismissed questions about whether he was drunk as "impertinent". "I lay down, and the next thing I knew it was the morning," he said.
Mr Turnbull said Mr Abbott missed an important vote and while he was disappointed in his colleague he'd moved on.
"I can't remember anyone else missing a vote because they were too drunk to get into the chamber," he said on Friday.
"But the fact is Tony has fessed up to it, he knows it was an error or whatever, he's acknowledged it and that's good."
Mr Swan said Mr Abbott was self-indulgent in sleeping through a vote on policy at a time of economic crisis.
"He slept through some of the most important votes in the Australian Parliament in over 50 or 60 years," he told reporters in Brisbane.
"When the jobs of Australians were on the line, Tony Abbott didn't care. His recklessness knows no bounds."
