Times runs out for refugee transfer bill

Hopes of a passing a bill to get sick refugees on Manus Island and Nauru urgently transferred to Australia have been dashed, as conservative crossbench senators continue delay a vote in the upper house.

Pauline Hanson and Cory Bernardi used time-wasting tactics in the Senate on Thursday, which meant the bill was still being debated and did not return to the lower house before it wrapped up for the year with valedictory speeches.

Earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowed to prevent the proposed laws being passed through the lower house in a bid to avoid a humiliating defeat.