A rising star inside the Turnbull government has called for a national debate on introducing mixed gender competitions to professional sports, asking why women are segregated from competing against men in codes like the AFL, NRL and rugby union.

Linda Reynolds, who was Australia's first female brigadier in the Army Reserves before joining Parliament, told Fairfax Media that sport should follow in the footsteps of the Australian Army, which has a target of lifting the proportion of women in its ranks to 25 per cent within five years.

"Like in the military, sport requires many different qualities in an individual player but also in the team," Senator Reynolds told Fairfax Media.

WA senator Linda Reynolds. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"We no longer segregate women solely on their gender. Women now have the opportunity to compete on merit in the military, maybe its time to rethink the segregation of women in sport simply based on their gender and not on the talent."