A DEFIANT Malcolm Turnbull has committed himself to a further overhaul of the culture of federal Parliament in the wake of his controversial sex ban and has revealed that his wife Lucy is supportive of his move.

In an interview with Liz Hayes’ on 60 Minutes to air tonight, Prime Minister Turnbull spoke of his disappointment in the Barnaby Joyce affair that has made headlines across Australia.

On Thursday, Mr Turnbull said Deputy PM Joyce had made a “shocking error of judgment” that “appalled” everyone, as he announced a groundbreaking change to ministerial standards under which Ministers will be sacked for having sex with staff.

In the interview on Channel Nine’s flagship current affairs program Prime Minister Turnbull said he had “drawn a line in the sand” and demanded an end to the “boys club” culture of Canberra.

REVEALED: PM’s frank chat with Barnaby

MORE: Liz Hayes’ 60 Minutes confession

Mr Turnbull said he turned to his wife for advice before making the move to ban sex between his ministers and staff.

“Yes Lucy and I talked about this, this is one of those classic issues where it’s good to take counsel from your wife, life partner,” he told the program.

When asked what Lucy thought of the decision he replied: “Lucy absolutely agrees, and — who would disagree?”

Mrs Turnbull said one of her major struggles with having her husband as PM was watching him come under attack.

“Liz, in politics, everybody doesn’t love you. That’s part of the deal,” Mrs Turnbull said.

“But you actually do feel it when somebody’s under direct attack that you love, and you know that what is being said is completely untrue.

“Yes, you do feel it. There’s no doubt about that.”

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CURIOUS TIMING OF 60 MINUTES INTERVIEW WITH TURNBULL

The interview’s timing is curious, and comes as Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce held crisis talks in Sydney yesterday, after their public spat over his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion.

It is understood that Nine filmed the interview with the Turnbulls earlier this year, before news first broke of Mr Joyce’s affair with Ms Campion.

Mr Joyce and Mr Turnbull met at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Sydney for over an hour on Saturday.

The meeting comes after Mr Turnbull said his affair was a “shocking error of judgment” causing “a world of woe” that “appalled” all of us at a press conference in Canberra, where he announced a sex with staff ban was now part of the ministerial code of conduct.

Mr Joyce responded on Friday at his own press conference while Mr Turnbull was in Hobart.

He said Mr Turnbull’s comments were “inept”, “hurtful” and “unnecessary”.

It is understood Mr Joyce on Saturday indicated his concern was more about the forcefulness of Mr Turnbull’s comments and less about their substance.

Both agreed to move forward in the national interest according to reports.

Both sides of federal politics have called on Mr Joyce to resign in the wake of the affair scandal. It could also threaten to bring down Mr Turnbull’s government.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott also waded into the public stoush to take a veiled swipe at Mr Turnbull.

“The general rule I always observed was that one party doesn’t give another party public advice,” Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne.

“If a member of parliament has something to say to another member of parliament he or she should knock on the door or pick up the phone.”

He also criticised Mr Turnbull’s changes to the ministerial code of conduct banning sexual relations between ministers and their staff.

“There was a perfectly good code of conduct in place,” Mr Abbott said.

Earlier on Saturday, Liberal senator Ian Macdonald called for Mr Joyce to be demoted to the backbench on account of his actions.

“Barnaby would have known it would derail the government’s line, the government’s focus and it really is giving Bill Shorten a free kick,” Senator Macdonald told the ABC.

“Clearly, his path is that he’s got to take a very, very low profile, I hope on the backbench for, you know, a few months.” “It’s just got to end,” he later told Fairfax media.

Labor MP Pat Conroy described the entire scenario as a “soap opera”. “It’s a valiant defence of the indefensible,” he told ABC News. “There’s a massive question to answer. Malcolm Turnbull said on Thursday that Barnaby needed to consider this position. That’s code for saying, I need you to resign.”

However, hope remained for Mr Joyce with Nationals MP Michelle Landry telling The Australian that the Nationals leader had the support of the party room — “at this stage”.

“He is having a week off and then we’ll have our party room meeting Monday after next and we will see,” she said.

Mr Joyce will earn around $8000hile on his week of leave, while Mathias Cormann steps in to be Acting Prime Minister.

Mr Turnbull is set to head off to the US for talks with US President Donald Trump.

The Turnbulls will celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary in late March.