Govt missing early opportunity: Credlin

Former Tony Abbott chief of staff Peta Credlin says the government has missed an early opportunity to get on the front foot.

Ms Credlin said there could have been a special joint party room meeting to sign off on stack of legislation so that could go straight to committees when parliament resumes next week.

That would serve to keep a nervous coalition backbench busy rather than sitting around bemoaning the election result.

Most importantly, she said, the government could have had an exposure draft of its $6.5 billion budget savings bill ready.

"Right now Bill Shorten and Labor can hide behind the claim that they haven't seen the legislation. So if you had the legislation out there ... they would not have been able to hide and you would be able to put the wood on them, particularly this week," she said on Sky News.