The women Cash had alluded to gathered for dinner in Canberra on Wednesday night to vent their frustrations. They're angry and upset by the unfounded rumours. Some have been put in the uncomfortable position of answering questions from family and friends about why Cash mentioned them during estimates.

"Of course I’m angry," Bill Shorten said on Wednesday. "I’m angry on behalf of the smart, dedicated, hard-working professionals in my office who have been smeared by Michaelia Cash."

"I’m honestly shocked she hasn’t said sorry. I’ve been waiting for her to ring up my office and organise it."

Shorten said for prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's comments two weeks ago about respecting women in the workplace to have any meaning, he needs to ensure Cash apologises unreservedly and immediately.

"The prime minister said a few weeks ago that the parliament needed to be a more respectful workplace for women. I agree with him. Maybe he should try doing something about it," Shorten said.

In Question Time on Thursday, Turnbull claimed Cash had apologised and accused Cameron of "bullying and provoking" Cash with his line of questioning.

Labor deputy Tanya Plibersek says Parliament House is still a male-dominated place but she didn't expect a former minister for women to make it harder for women to be respected and treated equally.

"There are more men than women around here and having someone intimate that these young women are somehow less than just the fine professionals, hard working dedicated, intelligent professionals they are is just disappointing, very unfortunately," Plibersek told RN Breakfast.

She wants Cash to walk into Bill Shorten's office and apologise face-to-face with the young women she has upset with her comments.

"I think Michaelia Cash should walk down to Bill Shorten's office and ask to see the female staff in a group and look them in the eye and say 'I'm really sorry I didn't mean to make life harder for you, I slipped up, I'm sorry'. That would be the best solution here," Plibersek said.

Liberal politicians spent Thursday morning trying to water down calls for an apology by trying to imply that Cash was just reacting to Labor making implications about Coalition staffers.



The young women in Shorten's office are particularly aggrieved by Liberal minister Michael Sukkar's defence of Cash.

"It's clear from the footage that Senator Cameron was engaging in an inappropriate line of questioning about staff and movements of staff," he told Sky News.