Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has slapped down his frontbench colleague Stephen Conroy over his Senate tirade against the Governor-General.

Senator Conroy accused Sir Peter Cosgrove of "demeaning his office" by allowing a special recall of the Parliament.

"The Governor-General has one of the most important roles in our democracy and that should be respected by everyone," Mr Shorten said.

"This was intemperate and unnecessary.

"Senator Conroy should confine his remarks to the Government."

Senator Conroy had delivered the sustained attack in the Upper House on Monday morning.

"A strong Governor-General would never have agreed to this," he told the chamber.

"If the Queen had been asked to interfere in the British Parliament in this way, there is no way on this Earth this would have happened."

Senator Conroy described the move as a "tawdry political stunt" and accused the Governor-General of interfering in the democratic process.

Sorry, this video has expired Labor's Stephen Conroy accuses Peter Cosgrove of political stunt

"What we've had today is the ghost of 1975 revisit upon us," he said on Monday.

"The long, dead arm of Sir John Kerr crawled out of his grave to participate in a travesty of democracy in this country."

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had earlier called on Mr Shorten to distance himself from Senator Conroy's remarks.

"Not for the first time, Senator Conroy has disgraced himself," Mr Turnbull said.

"I look forward to the Leader of the Opposition publicly disassociating himself from those appalling remarks."

The Governor-General has been approached for comment.