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This is not a better Senate: Dastyari

Labor senator Sam Dastyari believes the government faces a tough Senate after it went to a double dissolution election hoping for a better one.

Labor Senator Sam Dastyari
Senator Sam Dastyari speaks to the media after a Senate inquiry into credit card surcharges at Parliament House Source: AAP

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull believes the Senate crossbench would have been even larger without a double dissolution election, with 12 senators rather than the 11 it ended up with.

But Labor's manager of opposition in the Senate Sam Dastyari says it is still a tough upper house.

"The goverment went to a double dissolution with the aim and goal of having a better Senate ... this is not a better Senate," he told Sky News on Sunday, noting a block of four One Nation senators, a three-strong Nick Xenophon team, and a variety of independent senators.

Senator Sam Dastyari has alos mentioned that he will be surprised if Malcolm Turnbull lasts longer than 18 months, let alone a three-year parliamentary term.

In particular, the Labor senator says former Liberal leader Tony Abbott is out and about running his own campaign.

"You don't suddenly start going around the country giving speeches on the economy as a backbencher from Waringah," Senator Dastyari told Sky News on Sunday.


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