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Parliament to sit mid-winter in 2014

The Abbott government has scheduled two weeks of sitting in July next year, a rare parliamentary event.

The House Of Representatives chamber in Canberra
Federal MPs will be required for a rare mid-winter sitting of parliament in July next year. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Federal MPs will be required for a rare mid-winter sitting of parliament next July in a sign the government might wait for the new Senate to pass its carbon tax repeal bills.

The Abbott government has scheduled two weeks of sittings, two for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives.

Usually parliament breaks for the winter break at the end of June, returning for the spring session in mid-August.

Leader of the House Christopher Pyne released a schedule of sitting dates on Monday, showing the Senate sitting for a fortnight from Monday July 7.

The lower house will sit for a week from Monday July 14.

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The Senate is expected to consider the government's 11 repeal bills in December following their passage through the lower house last week.

There may be a vote on the bills before parliament rises for the long summer break on December 14.

The first opportunity after that will be parliament's return in the first sitting week of 2014, starting February 11.

If the repeal bills are rejected or amended by the Senate, the government cannot seek a second vote for at least three months.

A second rejection would give the government a double-dissolution trigger.

However, the government may choose to wait until the July sittings for a second vote, banking on a more compliant Senate in which Labor and the Australian Greens will lack the numbers to block the bills.

The repeal bills terminate the carbon tax on July 1, 2014.

Treasurer Joe Hockey will hand down his first budget on Tuesday, May 13.


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