Former Prime Minister John Howard says the Liberal Party is unlikely to ever achieve its goal of having equal gender representation in Parliament, because women still play the greater caring role in society.

Only 18 of the 84 Liberal MPs in Parliament are women but the party has set a goal of 50 per cent of its MPs being women by 2025, and has signed off on a long-term plan to achieve that target.

While speaking at the National Press Club, Mr Howard was asked what he thought about the Liberal Party going backwards in getting women into Parliament federally.

"Look, I don't believe in quotas, as you know, and I mean, you can talk about targets and aspirations and goals," he said.

"I would like to see a natural process whereby there are more women."

He went on to say he did not think a 50/50 balance would ever be achieved.

"It is a fact of society that women play a significantly greater part of fulfilling the caring role in our communities, which inevitably places some limits on their capacity," he said.

"Some people may say, 'What a terrible thing to say', and it's not a terrible thing to say, it just happens to be the truth and occasionally, you've just got to recognise that and say it.

"The mainstream should not be too timid to say things occasionally."

Restricting donations would undermine political process

Mr Howard also warned against placing further restrictions on political donations, saying it would lead to a "massive increase" in public funding and undermine the political process.

The warning comes amid growing calls for a ban on foreign donations, following revelations Labor senator Sam Dastyari asked a Chinese company to repay a $1,600 travel debt to the Commonwealth on his behalf.

Former New South Wales minister and honorary Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley has called for further changes including banning companies and unions from making donations, and placing a $500 cap on donations from individuals.

Mr Howard told the National Press Club he disagrees with the proposal, saying it would amount to an attack "on freedom of political activity and expression".

"I don't believe that if a company is carrying on a lawful activity it should be prohibited from making a political donation," he said.

"If you limit donations to a small amount per head, that will inevitably result in massive increases in public funding.

"And political parties cannot run campaigns on nothing."

Mr Howard said if governments were given control over the funding of political parties, they might attach conditions to the money, and he used the example of Ireland which ties funding to gender equality targets.

"Having spent all of my life in a political party fighting socialism and nationalisation, it passes strange to me that people should embrace the idea of completely socialising the operation of political parties by increasing the amount of public funding, because that's the result," he said.

But Mr Howard said political parties — which are required to declare their donations every six months — should be required to do so "in a more timely fashion".

The former prime minister also weighed into the stoush within the New South Wales branch of the Liberal Party, calling on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and New South Wales Premier Mike Baird to use their influence and bring about much needed reform.

It comes after Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor last night warned of a "rotten culture" within the branch and called for the party to "democratise" and give more power to rank-and-file members.

Mr Howard, who has called for similar reforms, said there was a mounting view among Liberal members that the pre-selection process in New South Wales had become a "closed shop".

"We need fundamental reforms giving everybody who belongs to the Liberal Party in a particular area and has done so for a reasonable period of time, they should have a vote in choosing the candidate," he said.

"In the end, this change will only happen if the Prime Minister and the Premier resolve.

"I would hope that they would bring their influence to bear, because it needs their influence to bring about the change. It won't happen otherwise."