The woes of the National Party are set to continue despite the resignation of their embattled leader Barnaby Joyce as the woman who accuses him of sexual harassment says she wants him to be held to account.

Mr Joyce, who has been on personal leave this week with his new partner and former staffer Vikki Campion, said a sexual harassment allegation published on Friday was the 'straw that broke the camel's back' and pushed him to resign.

The Weekend Australian has named the woman bringing the complaint as Catherine Marriott, a former West Australian Rural Woman of the Year.

Mr Joyce has disputed the allegation, calling it 'spurious and defamatory', and claims that as an allegation it should have gone immediately to police, The Courier Mail reports.

Catherine Marriott has been revealed as the woman who filed a sexual harassment complaint against former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce

Ms Marriott's lawyer, Emma Salerno, said her client wanted Mr Joyce to be held to account, and hoped her complaint would see the party develop clear processes for handling such complaints.

Ms Salerno said Ms Marriott never wanted to go public with the complaint and has not taken it to the police 'at this stage'.

Mr Joyce will formally quit as leader of the Nationals on Monday and become a backbencher.

Nationals MP Darren Chester says the men battling to replace Mr Joyce will need to 'heal some divisions' after a bruising 16 days of pressure on the outgoing leader.

'I think someone like Michael McCormack from Riverina can pull together the Queenslanders, the New South Welshmen, the Victorians and unite,' Mr Chester told Sky News on Friday.

Assistant families minister David Gillespie is also a confirmed challenger, and he told Sky News he wanted to address the GST carve-up and decentralisation if he became leader.

Deputy leader Bridget McKenzie refused to say who she would back, but Mr McCormack has been tipped to be the front runner.

Mr Joyce's troubles have dominated headlines for more than two weeks, overshadowing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's current trip to the United States.

Speaking to reporters in Washington DC on Friday (early Saturday AEDT) just hours before meeting President Donald Trump at the White House, Mr Turnbull thanked Mr Barnaby for his service as deputy prime minister.

Joyce has stepped down from his position as deputy prime minister and leader of the Nationals party in the wake of the allegations

'He has personal issues that he has to address and he feels that he cannot do that from the dispatch box,' Mr Turnbull said outside Blair House in Washington DC.

'The issues that have been the subject of discussion over the past two weeks have not been issues between Nationals and Liberals, we have a 95-year-old political alliance, the longest in Australian history and it is absolutely enduring.

'I look forward now obviously to working with the new leader of the National Party who will be elected on Monday,' Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Joyce also acknowledged the government's need to clear the air.

'It's incredibly important that there be a circuit-breaker, not just for the parliament but more importantly a circuit-breaker for Vikki, for my unborn child, my daughters and for Nat (Mr Joyce's wife),' Mr Joyce told reporters in Armidale on Friday.

Mr Joyce faced repeated questions about jobs given to Ms Campion and his parliamentary expenses.

'Over the last half a month, there has been a litany of allegations. I don't believe any of them have been sustained,' Mr Joyce said.

The Nationals will meet at 8am on Monday to decide their new leader.