Prime Minister Scott Morrison says male and female MPs were pressured during the intense Liberal leadership chaos but he stops short of calling it bullying.
As the fallout from last month's bitter week of Liberal in-fighting in Canberra continues, Mr Morrison said the drama represented the most ferocious period in Australian politics since Gough Whitlam's dismissal.
"When those ballots are conducted, both men and women are subject to a lot of pressure when they're making these decisions," the prime minister told Network Ten on Thursday.
Pressed on whether he accepted bullying occurred, Mr Morrison said: "I believe there was a lot of pressure applied over an intense period".
His comments come after Julie Bishop weighed into the debate about bullying allegations within the party.
Ms Bishop said politics was not for the faint-hearted but recent behaviour in Canberra would not be tolerated in any other workplace in Australia.
"I have seen and witnessed and experienced some appalling behaviour in parliament," she said.
"(It's) the kind of behaviour that 20 years ago when I was managing partner of a law firm of 200 employees, I would never have accepted."
Mr Morrison said he believed Ms Bishop was addressing the ferocious climate of the spill.
Liberal MP Julia Banks and Senator Lucy Gichuhi both say they were subjected to bullying and intimidation from male colleagues during that week.
The behaviour prompted Ms Banks to quit parliament and Ms Bishop questioned why her party had trouble attracting and attaining women.
"When a feisty, amazing woman like Julia Banks says this environment is not for me, don't say 'toughen up princess', say 'enough is enough'."
Liberal frontbencher Sussan Ley has changed her mind on whether the party should consider putting quotas in place to boost female representation.
"I've never been a fan of quotas but I must say recently I've wondered whether we should consider them," Ms Ley told ABC radio on Thursday.
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie says behaviour in parliament is at times appalling, labelling the government a "boys club".
Ousted prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's daughter responded to Ms Bishop's speech, saying it would be "very hard to raise daughters and tell them to look to the Liberal Party for strong female role models".
"I have never been a fan of quotas but they may be the Libs' only hope to win back female supporters," Daisy Turnbull Brown wrote on Twitter.
