Independent MP Cathy McGowan may ask the Australian parliament to vote on a bill that would ban sexual relationships between members of parliament and their staff, in the wake of .
But the idea has been dismissed by the major parties and looks unlikely to find support.
Ms McGowan said the public increasingly thought the parliament's attitude was out of step with "community expectations and corporate practice".
"There are examples set by the process undertaken by the United States Congress and in the Australian corporate sector, including the action of the AFL in July last year regarding relationships in the workplace," she said on Thursday.
The Greens indicated they could support the idea, which is modelled off a recent ban in the United States' House of Representatives.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said new laws were "worth considering" given the potential for major "power imbalance" between politicians and their advisors.
“It’s something that we as a parliament ... are going to need to address soon,” Senator Di Natale told Sky News.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said politicians had to be accountable to their actions but had a right to conduct "consensual, respectful" relationships.
Independent federal MP Cathy McGowan poses for photographs at the Tallangatta Reservoir in the seat of Indi, Tallangatta, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Source: AAP
"It's not something that normally you would be justified in ... seeking to regulate," Mr Turnbull told reporters as he arrived for meetings with state premiers in Canberra on Friday morning.
Labor leader Bill Shorten said he had not given the idea "any consideration" when he was asked by reporters at Parliament House on Thursday.
"I haven't given that any consideration to be honest, I don't know what I think about that," Mr Shorten said.
"I think it's important that all organisations have proper equal opportunity policies, have proper harassment policies," he said.
Foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said the government had no business dictating what "consenting adults" were allowed to do.
"We wouldn't want to cross the line so that the moral police are able to dictate what happens between consenting adults," Ms Bishop said.
“Government has no business interfering in people’s personal lives."
Attorney-General Christian Porter said it would be "a very unwieldy law".
- with AAP
