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Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been left "humiliated" after his government's slim majority was exposed by the Labor opposition overnight, in a stuff up which almost resulted in an opposition-led endorsement of a banking royal commission.
The coalition is in damage control on Friday after it became the first majority government to lose three procedural votes in five decades, when government MPs, including frontbenchers Michael Keenan, Peter Dutton and Christian Porter, left the House early before the Labor opposition voted against adjourning Parliament at 4:30 p.m..
Labor then won three votes to continue debate before coalition House Speaker Tony Smith was forced to exercise his casting vote in order to avoid an embarrassing situation in which the Labor opposition could have forced a critical vote on the motion.
Turnbull, whose government has been against the establishment of a banking royal commission - which would serve to increase accountability and restore public confidence in the sector, took to talkback radio on Friday to publicly reprimand MPs who left early.
"I've read the riot act to them, their colleagues will all read the riot act to them, they'll get the riot act read to them more often than just about anyone could imagine," Turnbull told Macquarie radio on Friday.
"They're experienced parliamentarians, they knew they should not have left and they left early because they thought they'd get away with it (but) they've been caught out, they've been embarrassed, they've been humiliated, they've been excoriated and it won't happen again."
Keenan, the nation's Justice Minister, said he had apologized personally to the Prime Minister, and blamed a tight work schedule for the "unacceptable" stuff up.
"I've spoken to the Prime Minister. He's made his view clear to me that he thinks that is unacceptable and I accept that completely," Keenan told ABC radio.
"It's a decision that I shouldn't have taken and obviously I'm sorry that I did. It was a work related matter."
Liberal frontbencher and Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne tried to play down the result, which ultimately did not result in a passed bill, but came under fire from Nine Network journalists as well as Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese.
When asked if the government has a stable, working majority, Pyne said: "There's no doubt that what happened late yesterday afternoon was a stuff up. Everyone learnt a valuable lesson."
But Albanese stepped up the pressure of the government; he told Nine - and Pyne - that the coalition government "can't run the country" even with a majority government.
"There are times when you should be quiet, Christopher, and I' ll give you a bit of advice: be very quiet today," Albanese said on Friday.
"If you can't run the parliament, you can't run the country. We were in control during three years of minority government each and every day of the parliament.
"This (coalition) mob with a majority government couldn't get through three days. It was a farce yesterday, and it shows as an example of just how out of touch this government is.
Attorney-General George Brandis said the "indiscipline" shown by his colleagues was unacceptable, but was thankful the vote wasn' t lost on a bill or policy issue.
"It shouldn't have happened, there's no doubt about that," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"It was a political stunt that Bill Shorten decided to pull and he got away with it because there was indiscipline on the part of a small number of my colleagues. That shouldn't have happened."
Labor managed to win three votes to suspend the adjournment of Parliament and further debate on the banking royal commission before the government was able to scramble enough members to tie the vote.
The coalition won the fourth vote 73-72 to adjourn Parliament for the evening.
(APD)
