Malcolm Turnbull slams his own MPs for knocking off early last night in the wake of a parliamentary ambush which saw the Government defeated in a vote of the House of Representatives.

Key points: Michael Keenan says he should not have been absent for the vote

Michael Keenan says he should not have been absent for the vote Malcolm Turnbull says the missing MPs have been "embarrassed"

Malcolm Turnbull says the missing MPs have been "embarrassed" Bill Shorten says Mr Turnbull "lost complete control of the Parliament"

Labor outmanoeuvred the Government and won a procedural vote in the House of Representatives by a handful of votes.

Mr Turnbull said it was "all about stunts and games" from Labor, but conceded that the members who left "did the wrong thing".

"A number of our members should not have left the building," he told 3AW.

"They did the wrong thing, they know they did the wrong thing. I've read the riot act to them.

"They've been caught out. They've been embarrassed. They've been humiliated. They've been excoriated and it won't happen again."

Mr Turnbull said the tactic had been used by both parties previously and exposed "a degree of complacency" among some of his colleagues.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan was one of the Government MPs who was not present for the vote — something he said he should not have done.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan was one of the Government MPs who was not present for the vote. ( ABC News: Nick Haggarty )

Mr Keenan told the ABC he took responsibility for his absence, but labelled last night's events as a "stunt" by Labor.

"Obviously we have a majority in the Parliament," he said.

"This was a stunt by the Labor Party who are far more interested in playing parlour games in Canberra than they are about representing the people that they were sent here to represent.

"I have no doubt that will be a lesson, there's a lesson for me and others and we won't be having a repeat of that."

Mr Keenan was one of three senior ministers — alongside Peter Dutton and Christian Porter — who were not in the House when the Opposition surprised the Government by voting against Parliament adjourning at its usual time of 4.30pm.

He took an early flight to Melbourne, but flew back to Canberra after arriving in the Victorian capital.

He arrived in Canberra after the House had adjourned.

Mr Porter arrived for the second vote, but Mr Dutton did not return until the fourth, when the Government regained control of the House.

Brandis labels vote a 'stunt'

Attorney-General George Brandis said the events needed to be put into perspective, saying a mistake was made, but the vote was procedural.

Attorney-General George Brandis said last night's events needed to be put into perspective. ( ABC News: Nick Haggarty )

Senator Brandis told the ABC it was not a vote on a bill or policy issue.

"It shouldn't have happened, there's no doubt about that," he said.

"It was a political stunt that Bill Shorten decided to pull and he got away with it because there was indiscipline on the part of a small number of my colleagues. That shouldn't have happened."

The Opposition Leader rejected the characterisation, saying the push for a banking royal commission was "no laughing matter".

Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne that Mr Turnbull "lost complete control of the Parliament".

"Mr Turnbull promised a stable majority," he said.

"He doesn't have a stable majority … It's taken them precisely two days of parliament to prove that Mr Turnbull can't manage the parliament."

Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke said the events were not about political gain.

Mr Burke said it should not have come as a surprise to the Coalition.

"It's not like we've been a little bit subtle that we'd be pursuing something like this," he said.

"But the Government have been sufficiently arrogant, sufficiently disorganised, sufficiently incompetent, that for the first time in in more than 50 years, the Opposition took control of the floor of the Parliament."

How it unfolded

Labor voted against adjourning at the usual time of 4.30pm, winning 69 to 67.

The Opposition then won a second and third vote, which effectively brought forward the royal commission motion.

The fourth, which would be the vote on the motion itself, saw Speaker Tony Smith exercise his casting vote for the continuation of debate.

Leader of the House Christopher Pyne soon brought forward a series of votes to adjourn the House.

Mr Pyne told Channel Nine this morning that the MPs who were absent had left without his permission.

"There's no doubt that what happened late yesterday afternoon was a stuff up and those people who weren't there obviously they learnt a valuable lesson," he said.

"In fact everyone learnt a valuable lesson, but there's no point in pointing the finger at individuals".

Last night, Labor MPs rejected the characterisation of the events as a stunt, with Michael Danby instead calling it a "legitimate political tactic" to bring forward debate on the banks.