Federal Labor minister Anthony Albanese has led a push to discourage the NRL from appointing former prime minister John Howard to head the code's independent commission.

Early this month News Ltd reported Mr Howard, 70, was sounded out by Gold Coast Titans boss Michael Searle, who is leading an NRL club committee to establish the commission with eight directors.

But Mr Albanese called NRL chief executive David Gallop and other officials to tell them it was "a stupid idea", The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday.

"Nobody I spoke to thought it was a good idea," Mr Albanese told the paper.

Liberal MP Greg Hunt has defended the idea of Howard being offered the job and branded Mr Albanese's reported comments as "churlish".

"I don't know about the accuracy of the reports, but if they are true then it seems somewhat churlish," he told ABC Radio on Friday.

Mr Howard had been a "brilliant leader and administrator" in politics.

"We should be bipartisan and draw upon the skills of former Labor leaders or Labor ministers and former coalition leaders and coalition ministers," Mr Hunt said.