Make coalition deal public: Shorten

Labor leader Bill Shorten has called on Malcolm Turnbull to publicly release the coalition agreement with the Nationals.

The prime minister will meet with Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce on Wednesday to settle the coalition agreement, which is needed in order to govern.

The agreement has traditionally been kept confidential, although some elements of the last deal struck in 2015 were publicly released.

"It's not a good start for this government if their first action is to have a secret deal," Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.

He said the Nationals had previously forced Mr Turnbull into backing a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, keeping the baby bonus and putting in place a flawed system to tackle climate change.

"How can go you get the co-operation of the parliament and Australian people if they're not even told what the deals are all about?" he said.

Nationals MPs and senators will meet in Canberra on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the new agreement.