ALP asks whether Porter fit to be minister

A senior Labor senator has questioned how Christian Porter can return to parliament after his two weeks sick leave as if nothing has happened.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly ruled out an independent inquiry into the alleged historic rape of a woman by the attorney general.

That's because the NSW police are no longer investigating the case as there is no admissible evidence.

Mr Porter has strenuously denied that he sexually assaulted a woman in 1988 and is currently on sick leave. The woman took her own life last year.

But Labor, the Greens, crossbench MPs and senators and others are calling for an independent inquiry.

"Are we all supposed to just pretend when Christian Porter comes back from leave that nothing has happened," Labor's home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

"We need to be clear that he is a fit and proper person to hold the position of attorney general, the first law officer of this country."

She said if Mr Porter was an official in the attorney general's department, there would be an investigation into these types of claims under the Public Service Act.

But she said the government says this cannot happen as it would undermine the rule of law.

"I'm not going to take any legalistic moralising from this Liberal government," the Labor senator said.

However, Nationals MP and former prime minister Barnaby Joyce has backed calls for an inquiry, saying many of his colleagues want Mr Porter's "head on a plate".

But Social Services Minister Anne Ruston agrees with the prime minister.

"I think in reading Barnaby's comments it was probably as much out of frustration about the way this has played out in almost a farcical way in the media with everybody sort of making comments," Senator Ruston told Sky News' Sunday Agenda program.

She admits Parliament House has been a very difficult workplace clouded by speculation in the media in the last three weeks, stemming from a separate case of the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer, Brittany Higgins, by a colleague.

As such, she welcomes the inquiry headed by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins into the culture of parliament.

"It is really important that we get some clarity around the processes that are in place in the parliament," Senator Ruston said.

"It will only serve to make our workplace a better place."

Ms Jenkins said the aim is to build on the national sexual harassment inquiry into what drives harassment.

"It's more about systemic risk than it is about a few bad blokes misbehaving," she told Sky News.

"We learnt a lot about how to improve the workplace and I think that opens the door for parliament to look at its own particular circumstances and see how that can improve."

While not wanting to comment on whether there should be an independent inquiry, she said there needs to be a conversation as to whether the justice system meets the needs of victims of harassment.

She said it is very difficult for people to come forward with a compliant.

"But I think the conversation that is going on is about whether the justice system, including the police, meet the needs of victims to help us both achieve a victim's, you know, kind of safety and get the justice that I think we all expect," she told ABC's Insiders program.

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