I've read the riot act to missing MPs: PM

Malcolm Turnbull has read the riot act to missing-in-action coalition MPs whose absence from parliament allowed Labor to inflict an embarrassing defeat on the government.

The MPs, including three ministers, did the wrong thing by thinking they could get an early mark on Thursday, he said.

"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," he told Neil Mitchell on radio 3AW on Friday.