Nationals MP George Christensen has refused to apologise for a controversial Facebook post his party ordered him to take down and one the prime minister has branded "very inappropriate".
Mr Christensen is not concerned by reports police are investigating a Greens complaint about the post, which showed him pointing a gun alongside the comment: "You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?".
He said the post was a joke and he saw no problem with it, even so soon after last week's deadly school shooting in the US.
But he took it down at the request of acting Nationals leader Nigel Scullion, who has taken over from embattled leader Barnaby Joyce while he is on leave following news of his affair with a former staffer.
"Nigel Scullion asked me to take it down. I took it down because Nigel asked," he told reporters in Mackay on Monday.
"Putting a joke up on social media, if that's doing something wrong, then there's a lot of people that are going to be in trouble because it happens every day, every hour in this country."
Earlier on Monday Mr Turnbull told Melbourne's 3AW radio station: "It was clearly inappropriate.
"He [Mr Christensen] took it down after he was spoken to about it. There's been a referral to the Australian Federal Police ... [and] I gather they are still evaluating the referral."
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said he had reported the "disgraceful" post to the AFP on Sunday.
The Queensland state police also received complaints, but have already suggested they will not pursue the matter.
"The Queensland Police Service is aware of the photograph as well as the circumstances behind it. Preliminary enquiries would indicate that no offence has been committed," the force tweeted on Sunday.
But Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she had received death threats since the photo was posted, sharing a screenshot of one such threat on her Twitter page.
"The licence to send this type of message to anyone, particularly a member of the parliament, has been given by none other than a parliamentarian himself, of course," Senator Hanson-Young told ABC News.
"It wasn't just in poor taste from George Christensen, I think it was highly irresponsible."
Labor has also called for Mr Christensen to apologise.
- with AAP
