Crossbench senator Nick Xenophon has used a famous Monty Python sketch to describe the state of the Abbott government's paid parental leave scheme.

In an interview on ABC's Lateline on Thursday night, Senator Xenophon compared the scheme to the Norwegian Blue parrot in the British comedy troupe's "dead parrot" sketch, in which a man returns a dead bird to a pet shop to complain, only to have the shop owner insist the animal is still alive.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says the government's paid parental leave scheme is as dead as Monty Python's parrot. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"I think the paid parental leave scheme is a bit like that Monty Python's dead parrot," Senator Xenophon said.

"The government thinks it's alive, but it's well and truly gone."