Government showdown with Senate

TURNBULL GOVERNMENT vs THE SENATE: KEY POINTS DAY 1

* The government has enforced a rarely used constitutional power to prorogue parliament, effectively creating a new session of parliament without dissolving it.

* It has given the Senate three weeks to consider rejected legislation restoring the Australian Building and Construction Commission and bills imposing tougher governance measures on trade unions.

* Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has vowed to hold a double-dissolution election on July 2 if the Senate again rejects the legislation.

* Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove addressed a joint sitting of parliament's two chambers, telling MPs and senators they had been recalled early to consider legislation critical to the government's reform agenda.

* Senior Labor figure Stephen Conroy invoked the ghost of another GG - Sir John Kerr - to accuse the government of proroguing parliament for political advantage.

* In the lower house, the government used its numbers to block an attempt by Labor to have MPs debate a motion demanding a royal commission into the misdeeds of banks.

* MPs voted to formally ask the Senate to consider the ABCC bills.

* The House of Representatives passed legislation to abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal after the coalition used its numbers to gag debate.

* The government has agreed to interrupt Senate debate on the ABCC bills to consider legislation abolishing the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal once legislation has been received from the House of Reps.

* The Senate has defeated the ABCC bills 36-34, thanks to crossbenchers Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus, Ricky Muir and John Madigan.

* The government's bill to abolish the RSRT passed with the support of all crossbenchers except Senator Muir.