The Turnbull government has doubled down on accusations Labor used the New Zealand parliament to undermine confidence in the Australian government.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Wednesday accused opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong of being "up to her neck in it".
In the Senate, Attorney-General George Brandis moved to censure Senator Wong after she admitted her chief of staff was involved in fishing for information during a conversation with a friend from the NZ Labour Party about citizenship laws.
That conversation led to NZ Labour MP Chris Hipkins asking questions prior to a decision to refer to the High Court Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's eligibility to sit in the Australian parliament.
Until Tuesday Mr Joyce was a NZ citizen by descent, a status unknown to him when he stood for election.
Ms Bishop ignited a diplomatic row when she queried whether the Turnbull government could build sufficient trust in NZ Labour if it won power in next month's election.
On Wednesday, her target was Senator Wong.
"This wrong, unacceptable conduct that should never have happened was instigated by Penny Wong," she told Sky News.
Senator Wong insists while her chief of staff - a dual NZ-Australia citizen himself - did regularly speak with friends across the ditch including Mr Hipkins, neither she nor he knew the MP had asked questions in parliament until after the story about Mr Joyce broke.
Ms Bishop wasn't convinced, doubting how Senator Wong's "closest, most-trusted advisor" would have acted without her knowledge.
Senator Wong accused the government of manufacturing a "Kiwis under the beds scare" as a distraction from its own woes.
"What Ms Bishop did yesterday was an extraordinarily reckless and irresponsible act from frankly a foreign minister generally who has been competent and credible," she told reporters.
