News Corp Australia tabloids reported on Sunday that Queensland MP Warren Entsch had lodged a formal complaint with chief whip Philip Ruddock after Mr Abbott's suggestion on Friday that Ms Credlin would not be subject to the same internal criticism if she were a man.

"Do you really think my chief of staff would be under this kind of criticism if her name was P-E-T-E-R as opposed to P-E-T-A?" Mr Abbott said on Friday.

But Ms Bishop said, "That's not the way I would put it."

"I've been on the record many times saying that I don't view the world through a prism of gender, I never have and I never will," she said.

Asked if that meant she was, in effect, sexist, Ms Bishop said "I've been called a lot of things, but not sexist."

Mr Abbott's comments were "reflecting the Prime Minister's frustration that anonymous sources have been making complaints about his chief of staff. If people have got a problem with the prime minister's office, go and talk to the prime minister", Ms Bishop said.

The deputy Liberal leader, who was at loggerheads with Ms Credlin when her request to go to a climate change conference in Peru was initially blocked, insisted she had a good working relationship with the key political operative.

Appearing on Sky News on Sunday, Ms Bishop also dismissed suggestions that she had subsequently "gone bananas" when it emerged Trade Minister Andrew Robb would attend the conference as her chaperone, declaring "I've never seen myself go bananas, I don't get upset like that".

Fairfax Media revealed last week that Ms Bishop went to cabinet after the Prime Minister's office initially blocked her decision to travel to Peru and had the decision overturned.

Ms Bishop played down the significance of her decision to go to cabinet to overturn the decision on the climate conference.

"I just thought it was the wrong call, that's all, so I raised it in cabinet and said, 'What does everybody think?'" she said.

"People criticise us for not raising things in cabinet; I raised it in cabinet and we had a good discussion about it and the PM said, 'Yes, I understand where you are coming from.' So it was a perfectly cordial discussion. I don't go bananas and I didn't go bananas. That's very colourful language that shouldn't apply in this instance."

On Sunday morning Ms Bishop urged her colleagues to stop backgrounding against each other in the media and focus on political consolidation in 2015 after a "settling in" period in 2014.

After a ragged end to the year for the Coalition, including another hit in the opinion polls, Ms Credlin has been the subject of growing criticism.

Looking ahead to next year, Ms Bishop said "all governments, I think, in their first 12 months have a settling in period. We are obviously going through a settling period; 2015 will be a year of consolidation".

"We are now in a position to focus on the 2015 agenda which will be all about economic growth and job opportunities for Australians."

She said her colleagues "have to stop talking about each other through the media".

"Let's have a break over Christmas and then start 2015 as a year of consolidation."