Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accused Labor of being worse than the Australian Greens for economic vandalism.
The Greens are in discussions with the government to try and resolve the debt ceiling row before the current $300 billion limit is reached on December 12.
The government wants to raise the debt limit to $500 billion, but Labor wants to limit the increase to $400 billion.
The Greens are happy to scrap the ceiling altogether as long there is greater transparency over why debt is being raised.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asked Mr Abbott how he could be considering doing a deal with the Greens when he once labelled them "economic fringe dwellers".
"Bad as the Greens are, it wasn't the Greens that gave us the five biggest deficits in Australia's history, it was members opposite," Mr Abbott told parliament on Wednesday.
"I agree that the Greens have been economic fringe dwellers and that just means that members opposite are worse, worse than the Greens when it comes to economic vandalism."
Treasurer Joe Hockey agreed, saying Labor is the party of debt.
"I never would have thought I would be standing at this dispatch box and saying `the Greens are proving to be more reasonable than the Labor'. I can't believe it," he said.
"Just because you leave us with your problems do not stop us from fixing them."
