Liberal frontbencher Stuart Robert says he had a "good blue" with Peta Credlin but generally got on well with her.
The now human services and veterans affairs minister was captured on camera in final week of the 2013 election campaign being berated by the former chief of staff to Tony Abbott.
Ms Credlin told a forum in Sydney on Tuesday night that if ministers or journalists were intimidated by her they did not deserve their jobs.
Mr Robert told ABC television he got on well with Ms Credlin, but they sometimes fought.
"We had a fight. It was a good blue. Be under no doubts I gave as good as I got," Mr Robert said.
The issue related to fundraising ahead of the election.
"I don't mind having a good blue and I give as good as I take and we move on. That's what professionals do."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Ms Credlin was a "very formidable" chief of staff, who gave greater loyalty to Mr Abbott than some of his colleagues gave him.
"But I think it is fair to say that Peta Credlin has been the victim of - certainly in some cases - a sexist attack because she was a strong woman doing a strong job in a very tough position," Mr Shorten told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday.
"It is really gutless of some of the current Liberal government to blame everything that's happened in the last two years on Peta Credlin."
