He is a close associate of former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam, dismissed in 1975 after the Senate refused to allow budget Bills to pass. ''This is not just sour grapes,'' Senator Faulkner told a conference on bicameralism at Parliament House yesterday.

''It is a fundamental principle that the government formed in the lower house must not be forced from office by another, less democratically elected house. New deadlock provisions should be canvassed.''

The Howard government set up the Consultative Group on Constitutional Change, run by former attorneys-general Michael Lavarch (Labor) and Neil Brown (Liberal), which in 2003 gauged public opinion towards amending section 57 of the Constitution, which deals with deadlocks between the two houses of Parliament. No referendum proposal emerged from the consultation process.

Labor's federal platform commits the party to change, saying, ''Labor supports constitutional reform to prevent the Senate rejecting, deferring or blocking appropriation bills.''

The platform commits Labor to simultaneous and fixed four-year terms for the Senate and the House of Representatives, though Senator Faulkner was cautious yesterday about how soon that might be picked up.

''It may be that fixed, simultaneous, four-year terms may be too much, too soon, to receive the level of broad bipartisan support that is a prerequisite for any referendum to be successful,'' he said.

''Simultaneous terms for both senators and members of the House of Representatives would be a significant step forward. New senators taking their seat straight after an election would be a significant step forward. Four-year terms for both senators and members of the House of Representatives would be a significant step forward. A fixed election date would be a significant step forward.''

Senator Faulkner hailed the Australian Senate as more respected and powerful than at any time since Federation, but acknowledged his party's enmity to the upper house.''For a long time, from 1919 to 1979, Labor argued for abolition of the Senate. More recently, it has been described as 'unrepresentative swill' and an 'anarchic swamp','' he said.

He praised the introduction of the Senate committee system, especially its estimates incarnation.

''It is in estimates committees, where there is time to question government officials in detail and at length [sometimes at great length], that the greatest accountability occurs,'' he said.