Double dissolution is not a fait accompli

A double dissolution election is not a fait accompli and hopefully will not come to pass, says Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion.

The Northern Territory senator says Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has offered Australians clarity and certainty by announcing the budget will be handed down a week early.

"I don't see (a double dissolution) as a fait accompli by any means," he told AAP on Monday.

It would have no impact on him, as Territory senators face elections every three years, rather than every six years for state senators, but Senator Scullion said he hoped there would be no need for one.

"They're not things we should undertake lightly," he said.

He said Australia could not afford to be "mucked about and held to ransom" by an intransigent Senate.

"The Senate should get back onto doing what it should do, which is reviewing legislation and not pretending it's actually government," Senator Scullion said.

He denied the prime minister was holding a gun to the head of crossbenchers by threatening a double dissolution, saying they were being given three more weeks to consider the legislation.

However, NT Labor senator Nova Peris said Mr Turnbull was manipulating parliament for his own benefit.

Senator Peris said the decision to bring the budget forward by a week was all about politics and nothing to do with tax reform but welcomed a July 2 double-dissolution election as an opportunity for NT voters to "decide between Turnbull's talking and Labor's action".

"Whichever way we look at it, the government has checkmated themselves with the Greens and crossbenchers.

"Malcolm Turnbull is manipulating the parliament for his own benefit, not for the benefit of Territorians," Senator Peris said.