Crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm says Employment Minister Michaelia Cash's admission she gave wrong evidence to a Senate committee is not a "hanging offence".
Senator Leyonhjelm and fellow crossbencher Nick Xenophon believe Senator Cash shouldn't be forced to resign despite wrongly telling a estimates hearing none of her staff informed media about federal police raids at Australian Workers Union offices.
"She was the one who said 'I've been advised my staff did tip off the media', nobody else divulged that information. I don't regard that as a hanging offence," Senator Leyonhjelm told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
Both men spoke glowingly of their dealings with Senator Cash, who is under mounting pressure to quit.
"She said it had absolutely nothing to do with her office. At the time she told me that, I accept that she believed that," Senator Xenophon told ABC Radio.
But Labor aren't so trusting. They say it's inconceivable Senator Cash didn't know her office was involved.
"She should resign and I expect that she will have resigned by the end of the day. But if she hasn't the prime minister should sack her," deputy leader Tanya Plibersek told reporters.
"It beggars belief that the minister, the staffer who resigned, met with the prime minister before question time and this issue didn't come up. I don't think anybody's buying that."
The adviser at the centre of the controversy resigned after admitting he leaked information about the raids in Melbourne and Sydney on Tuesday to journalists.
After repeated denials her office tipped off media, Senator Cash was forced to correct the record to the committee on Wednesday night, insisting she was unaware of her staffer's actions.
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