Liberal National Party federal member Luke Howarth has dropped the F-bomb during a press conference with the prime minister in Brisbane on Thursday.
A journalist asked a question about why Malcolm Turnbull wasn't appearing with any of his female MPs during his trip to Queensland, to which Mr Howarth muttered "Oh this f***".
Mr Howarth later apologised for the blue language, saying he was "frustrated at the question," because the LNP had many women in its ranks, although none were featuring on this trip.
"I mean the prime minister answered the question well, but at the end of the day I'm guilty, I shouldn't have sworn under my breath, and I'm sorry," Mr Howarth said.
He said he didn't want people to think he was being "dismissive" of the issue with his response, pointing out that two female Queensland coalition MPs are assistant ministers - Jane Prentice and Karen Andrews.
However, the Coalition has only one other female MP from the state - the Nationals' Michelle Landry - and no senators.
Mr Howarth said he was also frustrated by the question because there was four state seats in his federal seat, and three of the LNP candidates were women.
He said he had been a big advocate for more women in federal and state parliaments, but the problem had to be addressed at a grassroots level.
"I think the point is we need to keep encouraging women to run, if people don't run for preselection then it's hard to preselect them," he said.
"If you've got ten candidates running and only one is a woman, there's a 90 per cent chance a man is going to be preselected."
