This is not a better Senate: Dastyari

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull believes the Senate crossbench would have been even larger without a double dissolution election, with 12 senators rather than the 11 it ended up with.

But Labor's manager of opposition in the Senate Sam Dastyari says it is still a tough upper house.

"The goverment went to a double dissolution with the aim and goal of having a better Senate ... this is not a better Senate," he told Sky News on Sunday, noting a block of four One Nation senators, a three-strong Nick Xenophon team, and a variety of independent senators.