If the sitting had been extended it would have been possible for the parliament to vote on Dr Kerryn Phelps's private members bill to allow sick refugees from Nauru and Manus to be transferred to Australia for treatment so long as two doctors agreed it was necessary.

Given Labor was going to support the bill, which had already been endorsed by the Greens and most of the crossbench, and some Coalition MPs are strongly opposed to indefinite detention, the measure would have almost certainly passed.

Mr Morrison could have either got behind the proposed amendment to the migration laws, recognising it was based on humanity and common sense, or he could just stonewall.

The former course would have allowed the parliament to end the year on a high note similar to the passage of same sex marriage into law in 2017.

By choosing to stonewall, using the flimsy argument our pollies had planes to catch and couldn't spare the Australian people any more of their precious time, he has reinforced the view the Coalition lacks imagination and compassion.

This is the same government that only days ago was lecturing politically aware students on the need to forego activism and go back to the classroom just a week ago.

As a result the real winner in the shenanigans of the past 24 hours has been Bill Shorten who has been able to create a meaningful difference between the government and the opposition on asylum seeker policy.

The ALP still agrees refugees who use a people smuggler to come to Australia should be resettled in a third party country, not here.

It also agrees the turn-back policy should stay if it is elected, just so long as it is safe to do so.

The big difference is neither Mr Shorten nor his colleagues believe Dr Phelps's bill would have opened the door for the people smugglers to resume their ugly and dangerous trade. It does not believe people should be detained indefinitely for seeking refuge.

This gives the many mainstream voters, who until now have despaired that the ALP and the Coalition have been joined at the hip, somewhere to go at last.

It is also clever wedge politics in that this new point of difference may even win some votes from "small l" Liberals feeling increasingly alienated by the party's inexorable drift to the right.

Mr Morrison continued to dig a hole for himself, and the Coalition, after the lower house rose by claiming the opposition was weak for allowing controversial new national security laws that pave the way for back doors into encrypted communications systems to pass the Senate.

While the laws are problematic, given they will be challenging to enforce and have the potential to compromise privacy and damage industry, Labor felt it was necessary to have legislation in place to protect Australians over the Christmas period.

Mr Morrison actually got what he wanted, but still managed to make a mess of the final sitting day of the year. Coalition MPs now back in their electorates will soon be focusing on the task of getting re-elected. Performances like this aren't likely to help in that task.