The Prime Minister accused the opposition of attacking his religious faith, cabinet minister Angus Taylor claimed Labor had joined an anti-Semitic attack on him and Speaker Tony Smith barely had time to breathe between throwing swags of MPs out of the fury that was the House of Representatives.

To say there was a lack of festive spirit as the parliament broke up for the Christmas season is to drastically understate the unpleasantness.

There was little evidence of the spirit of Christmas on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The mood turned thunderous in the morning when Scott Morrison tried to ram through his union-busting legislation - the so-called Ensuring Integrity Bill - that had been voted down in the Senate only last week.

Anthony Albanese's opposition was loudly furious, declaring the government's refusal to allow debate on the bill was anti-democratic. The Prime Minister spent the day describing the would-be legislation as an effort to "stand up against thugs".