Greens MP Adam Bandt, a member of the crossbench, says he would rather be debating same-sex marriage and points out the House of Representatives could have dealt with this last week only its sitting was cancelled.

"It's not our fault this is all crashing down at once," he says.

Coalition MPs interject.

"The noise from nuff nuff corner is getting a bit much," Mr Bandt says in exasperation.

Mr Bandt says the House of Representatives should keep sitting until both matters - citizenship and same-sex marriage - are resolved.

He does not support picking off MPs one by one; there should be an agreed list to bring consensus to the process.