The Greens are struggling to win coalition and Labor support for a federal corruption watchdog.
The Senate on Thursday debated a Greens bill, introduced almost two years ago, that aims to create a national integrity commission that would investigate misconduct and corruption in federal departments.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale says the public appetite for cracking down on political entitlements and corruption is "tremendous" after former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop resigned amid furore over her travel claims.
But government and Labor senators argued against the independent body, saying there was a range of other avenues available to investigate misuse of funds.
It was the third time the Senate debated the bill, which again did not proceed to a vote during the time allocated for private bills.
The legislation aims to have a national integrity commissioner, a law enforcement integrity commissioner and an independent parliamentary adviser appointed.
The commission would provide advice to politicians on conduct and entitlements, and investigate misconduct and corruption within federal departments and the Australian Federal Police.
Senator Di Natale said the failure of either the coalition or Labor to back the anti-corruption bill was a "catastrophic failure of leadership".
"It's no wonder the community has lost faith in politicians," he said in a statement.
Labor Senator Joe Ludwig said while he'd once thought the intention of the bill was appealing, he had since formed the view it wasn't the best idea to "put all of your eggs in one basket".
It would weaken the protections already available, he said.
"If you are going to address systemic corruption within a federal body then a (number) of integrity agencies interconnected working co-operatively is a far better model," the senator said.
The plan proposed by the Greens was outdated, he said.
The bill is modelled largely on the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, which investigates misuse of funds in the state's public sector and has uncovered several instances of misconduct.
It's not clear when the bill will come back to the Senate for further debate.
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