The Turnbull government has taken the unusual step of cancelling a parliamentary sitting week, citing the need to pass same-sex marriage laws and deal with the citizenship fiasco.
Labor and the Greens immediately accused the government of "running scared" from the potentially embarrassing scenario of lower house Nationals MPs crossing the floor to team up with Labor, the Greens and the crossbench and force the creation of a commission of inquiry into Australia's banking system.
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek described it as "the sort of thing that happens in a dictatorship".
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne dismissed that suggestion as he announced the lower house will now not meet until December 4, rather than November 27.
The Senate will still meet in the week beginning November 27, with debate on same-sex marriage laws - including contentious amendments designed to strengthen religious protections - set to dominate proceedings until November 30.
The move to delay sittings means that lower house MPs will now have until 8pm on Tuesday, December 5 - rather than the previously agreed December 1, which still applies for the Senate - to make disclosures to the Parliament about their citizenship status.
The push to establish a commission of inquiry - which is all but certain to pass the Senate and is being led by Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan - looks increasingly likely to succeed in the lower house as well, with several Nationals MPs signalling they could cross the floor and deliver the numbers to suspend standing orders and bring on debate.
It comes as the Turnbull government is in minority government, holding just 73 seats on the floor of the lower house, because former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and backbench MP John Alexander are campaigning to win back their NSW seats of New England and Bennelong respectively.
But Mr Pyne said a one-week sitting delay would not affect the government's numbers in the house because "neither John Alexander nor Barnaby Joyce would be back in the House" from December 4.
Asked about the prospect of Senator O'Sullivan's bill succeeding in the lower house too, Mr Pyne said the government "won't be listing other bills, but anyone who wishes to change the agenda, if they have 76 votes [and] that they can achieve a suspension of standing orders, well that motion is open to them to move".
He predicted most of the amendments to Senator Dean Smith's same-sex marriage bill would be dealt with in the Senate but there would be ample time to debate any amendments to the marriage bill in the lower house from December 4, if necessary.
Ms Plibersek said that Parliament had become inconvenient and the government had therefore suspended democracy.
"It is outrageous, it is unacceptable, there are dozens of pieces of legislation before the Parliament that could be debated next and the government has just decided that because Parliament doesn't suit them, they are going to suspend it. It's extraordinary," she told Sky News.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said "Turnbull is running scared from the Parliament. If you can't run the Parliament, you can't run the country".
Greens lower house MP Adam Bandt said the "government is terrified it has lost control of Parliament. King Charles cancelled Parliaments and he lost his head. At this rate, Turnbull is not far from the metaphorical chopping block either."
An outraged Bob Katter, the maverick independent representative for the north Queensland seat of Kennedy, swiftly called a press conference and threatened to convene something akin to an insurgent Parliament with Labor, the Greens and others.
He said he had spoken with Labor about turning up to Canberra on Monday anyway, as long as the other independent crossbenchers agreed.
"Parliament will sit. We will form Parliament, we'll appoint a speaker, and we will proceed," Mr Katter said.
"And if the Liberal Party don't want to be there, that is their choice. But we will pass the laws of the land on Monday."
Section 30 of the House of Representatives Standing Orders states that when Parliament is not sitting, only the Speaker may change the date and time at which it next convenes.
In an earlier statement, Mr Pyne said the house will "sit until marriage equality is law and all citizenship issues have been dealt with by the House".
While it is possible the marriage bill and citizenship issues could be dealt with by December 7, "Members should be prepared for the house to sit for some or all of the second week beginning December 11 or as long as it takes to legislate for marriage equality and resolve all citizenship issues."
"Any referrals to the High Court resulting from members' disclosures will be debated after the passage of the marriage equality bill."
The sitting calendar for Parliament is typically announced a year in advance and very rarely changes. In 2016, however, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull brought forward the May budget by a week so it could take place before he called the July 2 election.
