The final fortnight of parliament for 2016 begins on Monday and the Turnbull government is hoping to use it to clear its legislative backlog before Christmas.
But the independent senator Nick Xenophon has already flagged a problem with the government’s plan to debate the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation on Tuesday.
Xenophon told Sky News on Sunday that the Coalition would not have a chance of passing the legislation until next week at least because negotiations had not concluded.
The ABCC bill triggered the 2 July double-dissolution election.
Labor plans to keep the focus this week on “Aussie jobs”. The shadow workplace relations minister, Brendan O’Connor, said Labor would also be demanding amendments to the government’s registered organisations bill.
He said if the proposed amendments were accepted – including letting the Australian Securities and Investments Commission be the regulator, exempting volunteers, providing better protection for whistleblowers, and having the same donation disclosure thresholds for candidates in unions and MPs – the bill would likely pass the Senate.
“You can hardly say it’s OK to have transparency for union elections when it comes to donations but not have the same forms of disclosure for candidates for people who want to run the country,” O’Connor told the ABC.
Xenophon also warned he would be wary of the Coalition’s behaviour in the Senate this fortnight, after last week’s antagonism about the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
He accused the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, of “free ranging” last week after Joyce told a meeting of state water ministers that the promised 450 gigalitres in extra environmental flows in the Murray Darling could not be provided under current legislation.
The South Australian water minister, Ian Hunter, reportedly told Joyce to “fuck off” and left the meeting prematurely.
Liberal senator Anne Ruston, who was at the meeting, formally complained about Hunter’s behaviour to the SA premier, Jay Weatherill, on Sunday.
On Monday a delegation of farmers and growers will travel to Canberra to explain to MPs and senators the impact of the ongoing uncertainty about the backpacker tax.
They will urge the parliament to break a stalemate over the tax, which they argue will already leave rotting fruit on trees.
“The message to the politicians is simple – throwing your hands up and saying ‘we’ve done all we can do’ is not good enough,” sais the chief executive of the National Farmers’ Federation, Tony Mahar.
The high court is preparing to hear a challenge against the eligibility of One Nation senator Rod Culleton and former Family First senator Bob Day to contest the 2 July election on Monday.
Malcolm Turnbull returns from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders’ summit in Peru on Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
