Taxpayer-funded electoral allowances for MPs won't be used for TV and radio advertisements during the federal election campaign.
The Senate dumped a Morrison government regulation late on Wednesday night, meaning $22 million of public money will not be used for political ads in the lead up to next month's poll.
The coalition had argued lifting the ban on TV and radio promotions would have put Australian media on a level playing field by ensuring all communities had the same access to information from their federal MP.
But Labor frontbencher Don Farrell, who moved the disallowance motion in the Senate, accused the prime minister of wasting taxpayers' money in a bid to save his job.
"Publicly funded office budgets are for members and senators to communicate with their constituents - not for spamming voters with hollow election slogans from the ad man, Scott Morrison," he said.
With the support of the Greens and a handful of crossbench senators, Labor won the disallowance vote 34 to 28.
