Attorney-General George Brandis faces an Senate inquiry into his handling of the Bell Group liquidation fallout.
Labor and the Greens succeeded on Tuesday in getting the support of One Nation senator Rod Culleton, the Nick Xenopon Team and independent Jacqui Lambie to set up the inquiry to report in March.
Senator Culleton broke ranks with his three One Nation colleagues to support the probe, which followed days of questioning in parliament.
The federal government in May won a High Court challenge against WA's legislation to finalise Bell Group matters and distribute assets, despite WA ministers believing they had a deal with Canberra for a hands-off approach.
Senator Brandis told parliament on Monday there was no deal and letters between then commonwealth then treasurer Joe Hockey and his WA counterpart - as well as the fact the court challenge went ahead - supported that position.
Labor says Senator Brandis has consistently failed to tell the parliament what position he initially took when discussing the issue with the then solicitor-general Justin Gleeson.
The opposition has also sought to link it to the breakdown in relations between the attorney-general and Mr Gleeson, who resigned in October over Senator Brandis' banning ministers from seeking the solicitor-general's advice without notifying him first.
Government frontbencher James McGrath told parliament in opposing the motion on Tuesday there never was any agreement with the WA government and the attorney-general instructed the solicitor-general to intervene on the commonwealth's behalf.
Senator McGrath said there was "no connection" between the issuing of the legal services direction and the Bell Group litigation.
The inquiry will also look at whether there was a connection between the WA-federal agreement and concerns in WA about a shortfall in GST revenue.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is also expected to appear at the inquiry.
In question time, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Labor attack was becoming "tiresome", but he understood the impatience with the Bell Group litigation.
"The reality is that the interests of the commonwealth were always protected ... but it has to be said this endless litigation is continuing and the only beneficiaries are the members of the legal profession," Mr Turnbull said.
Revenue Minister Kelly O'Dwyer, who is responsible for the tax office, told parliament she would check her records on whether she received any correspondence from the attorney-general regarding the case.
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