Scott Morrison and several senior Liberal women have suggested that claims of intimidation are the product of the stresses of a leadership spill and denied the Liberal party has a culture of bullying female parliamentarians.

Former Liberal minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and the president of the federal women’s committee, Helen Kroger, both said on Thursday that claims should be properly investigated. But Kroger said she didn’t believe there was a bullying culture and Fierravanti-Wells appeared to blame Malcolm Turnbull.

Guardian Australia understands that despite several public claims of bullying no official complaints have been made.

At a press conference in Sydney, Morrison gave strong indications the Liberals intend to ride out the turbulence caused by the resignation of the MP Julia Banks. He said the party was undertaking a “process of healing” and he was “dealing with” the issue by setting expectations of behaviour with his colleagues.

In a statement announcing she would quit at the next election, Banks said she would not tolerate “any form of bullying and intimidation”, revealing she had “experienced this both from within my own party and from the Labor party” but declining to give details.

While gathering signatures to force a party-room vote on Turnbull’s leadership, conservatives were accused of intimidating several women MPs and senators to support the push.

Liberal senator Linda Reynolds told the Senate last week that she did not recognise her party, its values and “the bullying and intimidation that has gone on” in the leadership spill.

But despite those public complaints, Morrison said the Liberal whip, Nola Marino, had not contacted him about the issue. A spokesman for Marino told Guardian Australia that “no complaints have been raised with the whip”.

On Wednesday the Victorian state president, Michael Kroger, said he has not received a formal complaint either, suggesting there is no formal process of investigation in train.

Helen Kroger – a former Victorian senator – told Radio National on Thursday that politics is an “incredibly tough, robust competitive environment” and the week of a leadership spill “is always very difficult”.

Kroger said she “feels deeply for Julia Banks” who was “clearly very upset with the week she experienced”.

“It’s a rough and tough game, politics, there’s no two ways about it. The environment is not for everyone.”

Kroger said “of course” the statements of Banks and Reynolds “need a look at ... if they’re expressing concerns about workplace behaviour”.

“That said, I don’t believe there is a culture of bullying and intimidation in the Liberal party.”

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells – who lost her position as minister for international development and the Pacific after the spill – told ABC’s AM that colleagues had felt pressure on their vote in the contest from “right across the spectrum”.

Fierravanti-Wells also appeared to blame Malcolm Turnbull, arguing “the insistence on the petition brought undue and unnecessary escalation of tensions”.

“If there are specific claims, what I think is important is that we have a structure within which these claims or allegations are made, considered, and dealt with,” she said.

Fierravanti-Wells said that leadership challenges are a “very stressful time” and new members would have especially felt the pressure of that environment more than they had “seen in past”.

Morrison suggested the complaint was the product of “a very bitter and bruising week” that he was “dealing with” by speaking to his colleagues.

Morrison thanked Marino and the minister for women, Kelly O’Dwyer, for “bringing everyone together” and Banks for staying in parliament.

“We’re a team – sometimes your team goes through difficult phases ... We’re going to go forward together .”