But the proposal is unlikely to progress any further without support from both major political parties, and the majority of the Australian public.
What is the average length of an Australian government?
At the moment, it is between two-and-a-half and three years.
Labor leader Bill Shorten wants to extend that, resurrecting the idea of fixed four-year terms for government, the same length as most state and territory administrations.
Mr Shorten is pleading with the Coalition to back the idea.
"In the last 24 hours, I think there's real appetite for genuine reform which is bipartisan. Just for once in our political lives, why don't we look at the positives of an idea before we look at the negatives? Why don't we look at how we can get fixed terms in our federal-election sphere, and then look at all the challenges and problems after that."
Labor senator Doug Cameron has told Sky News the extended time period would let governments work better and harder.
"I think the biggest problem is that governments don't have the certainty to implement their policies. They get in ... after 12 months, their eyes are on the next election. I don't think that's the right way to go. And if you've got a good opposition like we are, who will become a good government, then you've got time to implement your policies."
The move to fixed terms would predetermine federal election dates, making them no longer the choice of the prime minister.
Backers say it would give certainty to business, politicians and voters.
Others argue the measure could lead to so-called "bad" governments holding onto power until their time is up.
The Australian National University law school's Dr Ryan Goss says another issue is how the move would affect senators, who currently serve for six years.
"If we keep them on six-year terms, then we'd be all out of kilter,* and we'd have to have Senate-only elections every so often, which would be inconvenient and might be a bit costly. The alternative is to keep the senators on four-year terms as well, but that undermines a little bit of the original goal of having the Senate on a different timetable to the House. The other option is to bump them up to eight-year terms, but I think, for many people, eight years sounds like a long time for a senator to be in power."
Buoying Mr Shorten's confidence is Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's openness to discussing the idea.
Mr Shorten has even invited him to meet when parliament resumes.
But Treasurer Scott Morrison has told the ABC the proposal is far from a priority.
"Look, it's not a top priority for the Government. I mean, Bill raised this. He's the one who seems to be pushing it. The Prime Minister agreed to have a conversation about it. And I know that my colleague across the river, David Coleman, has put forward some sensible views around this. It's not a top-order issue for the Government."
Dr Goss agrees that is little assurance, with the proposal still needing to pass both houses of parliament and a nationwide referendum.
And he says Australia has a rocky past with referendums.
"In the past, we've had 44 different attempts to change the constitution in different ways, and only eight of those have been successful. It's really hard to change the constitution. The constitution makes it difficult. For a change to get through, we would need bipartisan support, and we would need politicians, the business community, people from all across Australia, explaining to the rest of Australia why it might be a good idea, why they think it's a good idea and how it would work."
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