Labor is testing Malcolm Turnbull's claim he has a mandate to govern in the 45th parliament by refusing to enter into a parliamentary vote pairing deal.
The opposition has dismissed a government request seeking a Labor MP to abstain from voting if a coalition MP is absent - something that could get interesting given the coalition's narrow one-seat majority in the lower house.
"The pairing arrangements we had in the 43rd parliament were all about a government without a working majority so if Malcolm Turnbull has now changed his mind and wants to declare he doesn't have a working majority we'll be very pleased to hear it," Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon told ABC radio on Wednesday.
Labor MP Graham Perrett says the party will still be compassionate about leave.
"But we will also be holding Malcolm Turnbull to account and making sure that his workable majority is something that is not just hollow words," he told ABC radio.
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Cabinet minister Kelly O'Dwyer says Australians are sick of these kinds of party political games.
"This is simply a political tactic of Bill Shorten to try and play the wrecking game before parliament has even reconvened," she told ABC radio.
"It is very disappointing that his actions don't seem to be matching his rhetoric on wanting to play a constructive role."
Ms O'Dwyer, who had a baby during the previous parliamentary term, said the Turnbull government had turned the parliament into a very family-friendly workplace and the denial of pairs put that at risk.
