It must've seemed, to Tony Abbott, a good idea at the time. To cut Question Time short and move to censure the Prime Minister; a few "toxic tax" and "Bob Brown runs the government" slogans always go down well.

But even Mr Abbott looked amused by the counter-attack on him by House leader Anthony Albanese, usually a snaggle-toothed, knock-em-down drag-em-out street fighter not usually noted for a sense of humour.

But someone in Mr Albanese's office has been busy and the boss was armed to the teeth when he approached the dispatch box.

He evoked the ghost of Liberal Party founder, the oft-quoted (albeit usually by Liberals) Sir Robert Menzies, to insert the knife and give it a good half-turn.

"On far too many questions we have found our role to be simply that of the man who says no," Mr Albanese quoted Sir Robert as saying.

"A visionary was Robert Menzies. Sixty-seven years ago he picked this bloke," he said amid guffaws from the Government benches and applause from a grinning Kevin Rudd.

Albo had more from Menzies.

"'There is no room in Australia for a party of reaction. There is no useful place for a policy of negation'.

"That is what Robert Menzies said about this person who has led the Coalition of yesterday into the Noalition of today." Groan.

Sleepwalk

With his party behind him joining in, the House leader chanted "no, no, no" to an Opposition Leader who was, by now, looking quite bemused by the tirade which was conducted in the trademark Albanese style of relentless screech.

Mr Albanese told the House how late last night Mr Abbott had to be nudged awake during divisions by Opposition business leader Christopher Pyne and Chief Opposition Whip Warren Entsch.

"He says this is the most important issue facing Australia; couldn't be bothered getting to his feet. Slept through it."

Now ABC News Online can't verify that Mr Abbott was asleep and the replay is inconclusive, but Mr Albanese wouldn't tell a porkie to the Parliament - would he?

He went on: "There he was asleep on the frontbench. He only woke up to say 'no, no'. This is someone who thinks he will sleepwalk into office, Mr Speaker."

Rolling in the aisles

The Government benches by now were rolling in the aisles, well, figuratively anyway - and they loved Albo's clincher.

"He's looking forward to Christmas because he's hoping Santa brings him a policy."

Not great theatre, perhaps, but for this Parliament quite brilliant.

And through it all Mr Abbott clearly saw the joke. He's a man of thick skin, who developed his impervious hide during John Hewson's leadership of the Liberal Party some 20 years ago.

Mr Abbott was then a slightly porky rugby-playing press secretary to Dr Hewson and was at least once seen prowling the corridors with a beautiful rugby shiner.

He was saddled with the unenviable job of selling to sceptical journalists the Fightback GST package, known around the gallery as "the longest goodbye note in history".

And his survival of that attests to an extremely thick hide indeed.