Greens MP Adam Bandt will move a motion to establish national ICAC in the House of Representatives today and it will be considered by the Senate when it returns next week.
Speaking to The Australian Online Senator Xenophon said the prospect of a code of conduct for MPs was a "sideshow" compared to the importance of a national ICAC.
"It's an anomaly; some would say it's a glaring gap in our system that there is no national ICAC," the South Australian Senator said.
"All this talk about a code of conduct is well and good but really that's a sideshow compared to the big issue that at a federal level there is no ICAC to cover government departments, public servants and particularly MPs."
Senator Xenophon said he would write to Greens Leader Christine Milne and other crossbench MPs this week to seek support for a bill to be introduced into the federal parliament.
He said he would aim to have legislation introduced next month, to be co-sponsored by as many MPs as possible.
Senator Milne last week called for a national ICAC-style body and said a parliamentary code of conduct would not do enough to restore public faith in MPs.
"Codes of conduct have their place but what you have with a national ICAC is the ability to deal with it," she told ABC Radio.
"Codes of conduct tend to be implemented at the discretion of the leadership at any one time and they are not as effective as a national integrity commission and commissioner."
The Independent Commission Against Corruption was initially established by the NSW Greiner government in 1989 in response to growing community concern about the integrity of public administration in the state.
ICACs now also exist in Queensland and Western Australia.
Tony Abbott last week signalled establishing a national ICAC would not have Coalition support.
He said it was simply a "desperate distraction" from the Peter Slipper and Craig Thomson scandals.
"Now it's all very well talking about what they might do in the distant future but the important thing is how is this government, including the Greens, are going to respond to the Slipper matter and the Thomson matter," Mr Abbott said.
"This is just a desperate distraction from a government and a government partner to the whole Thomson-Slipper scandal."
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