Malcolm Turnbull delays Parliament amid banking commission push

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has taken the unusual step of delaying  Parliament for a week, a move Labor and some crossbenchers have described as an “attack on democracy”.

Leader of the House Christopher Pyne said on Monday the House of Representatives would resume on December 4, rather than November 27, because the Senate was unlikely to pass same-sex marriage legislation until November 30.

But Labor likened the move as befitting a dictatorship, claiming the government was seeking to avoid a vote on a banking royal commission, amid a possible rebellion from Nationals MPs over the issue while Barnaby Joyce and John Alexander are absent from Parliament.

“I think this is the sort of thing that happens in dictatorship,” Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek told Sky News.

“When Parliament becomes inconvenient the government suspends democracy.

“It is outrageous and it is unacceptable.”

Tanya Plibersek says the move is ‘outrageous’. Photo: AAP

Labor’s chief tactician Tony Burke said: “I have never heard of an occasion where Parliament gets cancelled because the Prime Minister is throwing a tantrum.”

Mr Pyne said he and the Prime Minister had requested the change from the Speaker in order to allow the government to pass same-sex marriage before the end of the year.

“The Senate has made their own arrangements about dealing with the private member’s bill of Senator Dean Smith, and that won’t be available for the House of Representatives in the week of the 27th [of November],” he said.