A veteran Liberal says the party must expedite a review of its internal culture after two women who worked for senior Liberal politicians made allegations of sexual assault within state and federal politics.
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Senator Arthur Sinodinos says he will ask the party's federal executive this week to get the review by party elders Brian Loughnane and Chris McDiven finalised as a priority.
And Liberal stalwart Kathryn Greiner has demanded Prime Minister Scott Morrison pick up the phone and call prominent Australians to ask for help driving cultural change within the party.
The 50-year party veteran, who was a Sydney councillor and was married to former NSW premier and now-federal Liberal president Nick Greiner, says change will only happen if it's driven by the prime minister.
"You can have as many quotas as you like but if you still have bovver boy tactics in the organisational structure, you don't really get systemic change," Ms Greiner told AAP on Wednesday.
She said the prime minister should seek the advice of former Army chief David Morrison or former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick about delivering cultural change.
One of the women making the allegations worked for a federal minister.
She told Nine News another parliamentary staffer assaulted her in Canberra in 2015.
The other, a former staffer to the NSW Speaker, alleged a fellow Liberal Party member forced himself on her.
Senator Sinodinos said they hadn't received the support they deserved.
"I feel for them," he told ABC News.
"I think we can't have a situation where people feel the only option they've got is to go public in this way."
Mr Morrison commissioned the Loughnane-McDiven review following bullying allegations around the leadership ructions that saw him take over from Malcolm Turnbull and several bitter preselection battles.
"(It) should be treated as a priority and finalised as a priority," Senator Sinodinos said.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, whose department is technically the employer for federal parliamentary staff, said the allegations were deeply concerning.
"There is no place for any form of bullying, intimidation or sexual harassment in any workplace and the Australian parliament is no different," he told the Senate.
He said all members and senators should ensure their staff are aware of workplace policies and the opportunities available to have any issues addressed.
Fellow cabinet minister Simon Birmingham noted it appeared neither woman had raised the allegations with the politicians they worked for at the time, but should do so.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash denied her party has a problem with women.
"These are serious allegations and I would say to the parties concerned that they should be referred to the appropriate authorities," she said.
But Ms Greiner said that was just another way of shutting down the allegations of abuse.
"Every time I hear a prime minister or a premier or a senior cabinet minister say 'This is terrible, these women should take their concerns to the police', that is another way of silencing the women," she told AAP.
The young women asked Ms Greiner to support them publicly.
Since doing so, she's heard from other senior women who said similar abuse happened to them over the years that was swept under the carpet.
Federal Liberal Party vice president Karina Okotel said she would pursue the issue "like a dog with a bone".
The prime minister's office referred AAP to his past comments on internal cultural issues in answer to questions about the assault allegations.
Mr Morrison has previously said the party would deal with bullying claims within its own processes.
Australian Associated Press
