The bill to enhance penalties for union officials was knocked out at the second reading stage in March this year, but was reintroduced later that month. The ABCC bill has had a slow passage through Parliament, after first being introduced in November 2013 and is yet to come to a vote. Seeking an election trigger? Prime Minister Tony Abbott with senators Eric Abetz and George Brandis. Credit:Andrew Meares If the former is put to a vote and defeated, it would give the government a trigger to ask Governor-General Peter Cosgrove to dissolve both houses of Parliament. There has been ongoing speculation that Mr Abbott might call an early election following the positive reception of this year's budget. But Mr Abbott did not confirm or deny the double dissolution plan on Monday.

"There's always a lot of hyperventilating from the media about will there or won't there be an election any time soon," Mr Abbott told reporters on Monday. "Can I just say that we've had the best fortnight in the life of this Parliament. "We've just had a fortnight where a lot of legislation was passed, where some $14 billion worth of much-needed savings were realised through sensible decisions at last by the Greens and by the Labor Party to support government initiatives. "Why would you want to close the Parliament down just when it's starting to work?" The last sitting week of Parliament saw the Coalition's pensions savings pass, along with other legislation, after the government bypassed Labor and the crossbench to reach a deal with the Greens.

But in comments that will keep double dissolution speculation alive, Mr Abbott also said that he did not want the workplace relations legislation blocked. "In my judgement, sensible Labor people, decent working people, are appalled by the revelations in the royal commission and they want to see unionism in the country cleaned up," he said. "I don't want it blocked for a second." This comes as the role of unions continues to dominate headlines in the wake of Labor leader Bill Shorten's appearance before the royal commission. On Monday, a spokeswoman for Employment Minister Eric Abetz said both the ABCC and penalties bills remained a "government priority and will be put before Parliament in due course"

This is not the first time a double dissolution has been speculated about during the Abbott government. Last year, when the government struggled to pass its carbon tax repeal legislation and the new Senate crossbench, Mr Abbott noted that "if we had six to 12 months of difficulty maybe ye, it would be time to start thinking along those lines [of a double dissolution]." Double dissolutions are rare events in Australian politics, with only six since 1914. In order to call one, the Senate needs to reject a bill twice, after a three month gap. Follow us on Twitter