Bill Shorten believes this has been the worst summer for a government in memory - pitching it as even worse than when former prime minister Tony Abbott knighted Prince Phillip.
The opposition leader was speaking ahead of the first sitting of parliament for 2017 on Tuesday, and the start of three days when the Turnbull government can expect to face scrutiny over Centrelink, pensions, trade and Donald Trump.
And that's aside from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull having had to endure another cabinet reshuffle after losing his health minister Sussan Ley to another expenses scandal.
There are also reports there is a renewed push by a group of Liberal MPs for a free vote on same sex marriage.
Mr Shorten said the Liberals are starting this year how they ended the last.
"They are hopelessly divided and dysfunctional, led by a prime minister desperate to cling to his job," he told AAP.
Trade unions want to see the government set out a clear economic plan to create secure, well paid jobs.
ACTU president Ged Kearney believes 2016 was a lost year for the economy.
"Malcolm Turnbull did nothing to make it easier for ordinary income earners to pay the bills and make ends meet," she said in a statement on Monday.
"It is clear that Mr Turnbull's plan to create jobs or growth is nothing more than empty rhetoric."
She said unions will pursue an agenda to protect and enhance workplace conditions for working families including:
* real wage increases for all workers
* tightening loopholes in the Fair Work Act that allow employers to rip off workers
* preserving weekend and overtime penalty rates
* protecting and enhancing paid parental leave
* opposing the government's plan to take money off pensioners, people with disabilities, parents and the unemployed while pursuing a $50 billion tax cut for business
