But Pauline Hanson's last-minute siding against the"union-busting"bill - which would make it easier to deregister a union or union official - nonetheless left the Coalition reeling. Government MPs swear they had the One Nation leader's support,noting Cormann brings on bills only when he is confident the numbers are rock solid. They also report Hanson would not meet their eye in the chamber the next day and mutter darkly about how the government will need to be"wary"in future.

Other key bills also go to the break without the support they need. These include the headline-grabbing bid to drug-test welfare recipients and plans to expand the cashless welfare card,which is a major plank of the Prime Minister's"compassionate conservative"agenda.

As the government contemplates the Senate in 2020,the retirement of independent Cory Bernardi will at least make things more straightforward on paper in the new year.

Bernardi - who quit the Liberals in 2017 to set up his own conservative party - was almost always counted with the government. But his replacement with a Liberal senator brings the government numbers to an official 36. This means they still need two of the five crossbench votes to block,and three to pass,legislation.

In the wake of the union bill debacle,one Liberal MP was critical that key crossbenchers Hanson and Jacqui Lambie had not been taken seriously enough - or shown sufficient"respect"- by the Coalition so far. Other Coalition MPs said as people got to know each other more in the new Parliament,which is still less than six months old,better relationships would develop. Long-time Senate watchers will also point out the upper house has a long history of not passing bills the government wants it to pass (exhibit:the Abbott government's 2014 budget).

One week on,many Coalition MPs are philosophical about the loss on the union bill:there are no internal recriminations and they will try again next year.

One bill that isn't yet before Parliament is the government's bid to outlaw religious discrimination. Initially,the government planned to have the bill voted on before Christmas. Then it said it would be introduced by Christmas. Last weekend,it announced the bill would not come before Parliament until 2020.

While no interested parties are saying the government should hurry the process - indeed,many major religious leaders even suggested a delay - the sliding deadlines point to the complexity of the issue.

The Attorney-General's Department received about 6000 public submissions on the first draft bill in the space of five weeks. Doctors,nurses,lawyers,human rights groups,business groups,LGBTIQ groups and church groups are among those who say the bill needs to change (albeit for differing reasons). The Uniting Church,for example,says the current bill provides too many freedoms to religious Australians at the expense of minority groups,such as LGBTIQ Australians and people with disability."I don't think Christians are being persecuted in Australia,I don't think it's an issue for us,"Uniting Church president Deidre Palmer said.

Meanwhile,other religious representatives say the protections for people of faith need to be stronger than those proposed in the initial draft.

Last week,a powerful coalition of faith groups - including Catholic,Anglican,Jewish,Muslim and Pentecostal leaders - wrote to Morrison,calling for a broader definition of"religious body"that would enjoy protections under the bill in terms of hiring and firing staff on the basis of religious belief."We take the view that it would be better to have no religious discrimination act rather than a flawed one,"the letter said.

The government will release a second draft,perhaps as early as next week,for more consultation. Groups are welcoming the chance to comment again. But they are also busily mobilising.

Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells is a vocal critic of the government's efforts so far. The conservative NSW MP says there needs to be a sweeping religious freedom bill,rather than the current bill that provides protections against discrimination. Fierravanti-Wells has already submitted about 30,000 hard-copy signatures to Parliament as part of a petition she launched calling for religious freedom. She is also speaking regularly at multi-faith community events,including in western Sydney,where there are high levels of religious affiliation.

In a sign of the importance she places on the constituency,she is also planning to open an office in south-western Sydney in the new year.

Labor MP Michelle Rowland,who addressed a community forum on the issue in Blacktown last month,says there are significant,multi-faith grassroots movements in western Sydney,pushing for religious freedom."It is not a fringe issue,"Rowland says."The people who think it's a'bubble'issue are completely wrong."

It has not gone unnoted in government circles that the Christmas period will give church leaders the chance to address people directly about their concerns. As one government MP said:"It probably wasn't our first preference to be having a debate about religious discrimination around the Christmas table."

But in a sign of the difficulty the government will have corralling the public and Parliament on this issue,just as some MPs stress the importance of furthering protections,others increasingly question the need for a bill in the first place.

"If this was easy to do,it would have been done decades ago,it would have been done in the 1970s and 1980s when we moved a whole raft of anti-discrimination legislation,"Labor frontbencher Stephen Jones told the ABC last week. Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick has alsodescribed the bill as a "can of worms" that may never progress beyond the Senate committee stage,noting:"You can talk to five different people and get six opinions."

Away from Parliament,the controversial"robo-debt"scheme - already an established problem for the Coalition - looms on the horizon. Last month in a landmark court case,the federal government admitteda key element of the scheme was unlawful. This relates to its sole reliance on"income averaging"- or use of Tax Office data - to raise a debt with a welfare recipient.

The week before this,the Morrison government announcedit would no longer solely use income averaging when it comes to debt recovery and would contact people affected to review their cases. But among this confusion (there is still no precise detail about how many people are impacted and how long the process will take),a class action is already under way. Law firm Gordon Legal launched the action in September. It is not just seeking repayment and interest on miscalculated debts,but compensation"for any distress or inconvenience caused". A preliminary court date has been set for December 18.

While legal and welfare experts say it is not possible to predict how much money the government may have to pay out,conservative estimates sayhundreds of thousands of people will be involved and the government's bill could run to the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Greens'welfare spokesperson,Rachel Siewert,says costs for the"clean-up"are so significant they should be included in the mid-year budget update due later this month.

It probably wasn't our first preference to be having a debate about religious discrimination around the Christmas table.

A government MP

As MPs travel back home for the summer break,a raft of government MPs also face continued questions over their conduct. Along with Taylor (who improbably found himselfin a stoush with US author Naomi Wolf this week),Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt,Liberal backbencher Gladys Liu andNationals MP George Christensen are all making headlines for the wrong reasons.

Morrison predicts 2020 will be a"great year". The Senate,religious groups,the Federal Court and members of his partyroom may have other ideas.