The federal government's attempts to strike a deal on union-busting industrial laws have been thrown off course by claims it was prepared to horse-trade over Australia's strict gun laws, prompting a fierce political attack from Labor and criticism from former prime minister Tony Abbott.
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Late on Tuesday, the Coalition finally passed the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill through the House of Representatives - one of two pieces of legislation that triggered the July 2 poll - and it will now head to the Senate for debate from November 7.
The government is hopeful it will also pass the Registered Organisations bill by the end of the week.
But in a day of high political drama in Canberra, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was forced into damage control mode after he initially failed to rule out a deal to secure the vote of Liberal Democratic Party senator David Leyonhjelm over an end to the ban on the import of the rapid-fire Adler shotgun, which can fire off seven rounds, during a radio interview.
Senator Leyonhjelm had flagged an end to the ban in exchange for his vote, one of nine the government required from the Senate crossbench to re-establish the ABCC and set up a Registered Organisations Commission to monitor unions.
But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten led a successful political attack that threw the government off course as he seized on the Prime Minister's apparent equivocation - egged on by Mr Abbott's tweet that it was "disturbing to see reports of horse-trading on gun laws. ABCC should be supported on its merits" - to force Mr Turnbull to fend off accusations of a "grubby deal".
The reforms implemented by former prime minister John Howard should not be watered down, Mr Shorten told Parliament as he attempted to suspend standing orders.
"Prime Minister is so wounded, so weak, that he will do any deal to try and harm and destroy the representatives of working people," Mr Shorten said.
"This is not the party of John Howard anymore. They claim the mantle, they're not fit to clean his shoes on this issue."
Forced to defend himself in Parliament, Mr Turnbull said his government was working through the Council of Australian Governments process on gun laws, but "that ban [on the Adler] will remain in place."
"We stand by the firearms agreement. We want to see it stronger."
And the opposition attacks on Mr Turnbull and the federal government escalated in question time after an angry Senator Leyonhjelm claimed he had been "dudded" by the government on a push to end the Adler ban.
Senator Leyonhjelm said a deal had been struck to relax the ban on the Adler when Mr Abbott was leader and released emails with staff from Justice Minister Michael Keenan's office which indicated he would vote with the government and against Labor-proposed amendments to the Migration Act in August 2015 in exchange for a 12-month sunset clause on the Adler ban.
"I feel as if I have been deceived...now, all of a sudden, they want my support on the ABCC bill," Senator Leyonhjelm said. "I'm not saying where I'm going to land on the ABCC at this point. I will continue to talk to the government. I'm not a dummy spitter ... but it will be more awkward."
Labor pounced on the release of those emails, with Mr Shorten asking the government to "rule out weakening John Howard's gun laws as a part of horse trading in the Senate".
"There is no prospect, no chance of my government making - weakening, watering down John Howard's gun laws," Mr Turnbull replied. "And I might say there is no proposal being made to do so."
He said when federal and state justice ministers failed to reach consensus on what to do about the shotgun and the 12-month ban was due to expire, it was renewed.
"What has been identified is an area in [Mr Howard's] gun laws where there needs to be strengthening and that is what is before the relevant ministers at the moment."
