Senate urges no meetings with Macfarlane

The Senate has called on federal government ministers to rule out meeting with former coalition colleague Ian Macfarlane in his new role as head of the Queensland Resources Council.

The Greens motion, agreed to by the Senate on Tuesday, calls on ministers to rule out meeting with Mr Macfarlane until March 2017 when 18 months will have elapsed since he held the resources portfolio, as required by ministerial standards.

It calls on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to explain whether he endorsed Mr Macfarlane's "disregard for the statement of ministerial standards".