The federal government is pushing ahead with two controversial bills, to overhaul citizenship and university funding, despite both facing a tough path through parliament.
Parliament resumes in Canberra on Monday for a four-day sitting after a month-long break.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is keen to secure Senate passage of his bill, listed for debate on Tuesday, to tighten English language requirements for citizenship applicants and make migrants wait longer to apply.
However, Labor, the Greens and Nick Xenophon Team say the changes are unfair and the government has failed to show why they are needed.
Even government senators who scrutinised the bill in an inquiry said the tougher English language standard should be reconsidered, as well as the proposed two-year ban on applications following three failed attempts of the citizenship test.
And that there should be some form of transitional arrangement for people who held permanent residency visas on or before April 20 so the current residency requirements apply to this cohort of citizenship applicants.
If the bill is rejected, Labor says the immigration department must start processing every citizenship application immediately under the existing law.
The government has listed its university reforms for debate in the Senate on Wednesday.
Greens MP Adam Bandt said he feared the Nick Xenophon Team and One Nation could back the measures, which would cut funding and put students into more debt.
"It's a bad reform and the Greens will be voting it down," he told AAP on Wednesday.
However the coalition says the measures will enable the university sector to remain world-class and provide for no upfront fees, while easing pressure on the federal budget.
The government has also prioritised draft laws to abolish "limited merits review", in a move designed to take pressure off electricity prices.
A Senate committee report into the proposal is due to be tabled before debate starts on the bill.
Inquiry reports are also due on the protection of personal Medicare information, laws to set up the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, road safety, the rail industry and online poker.
