Voter ID laws shelved before election

Senator Birmingham says the government still wants to pursue the issue of voter ID if re-elected. (AAP)

The government won't bring its voter identification legislation back to parliament before the coming federal election.

But Finance Minister Simon Birmingham did not rule out a further push to create laws requiring people to prove their identification when voting, should the government win another term in office.

He had been asked at a Senate estimates hearing by Greens senator Larissa Waters if passing such legislation would be a priority after the election, although she did note "hopefully you won't be in a position to do so".

Disappointed the government could not bring in the laws before the coming election, Senator Birmingham said it remained an issue it would seek to deal with.

"We do think the principle around voter ID and the models developed provided a high degree of confidence participation would be easy for individuals but confidence in our electoral system would be enhanced," he said.

"If after the election there were an opportunity to look at those sort of reforms .... I'm sure we would do so."

Senator Waters asked if anyone in the prime minister's department was working on policy regarding political donations reform, election spending caps or truth in political advertising legislation.

"Is anyone in the department working on ... any of the other big reforms I believe the community actually wants to clean up our system?" she asked.

No member of the department was aware of any such work.