Malcolm Turnbull really wants to start the political year talking about the economy, fanning hopes for personal tax cuts and pushing company tax relief through parliament.
But the prime minister's hopes for clean air were likely to be spoiled as the miasma from the dual citizenship fiasco continued to drag through federal politics.
Labor MP David Feeney last week quit parliament after being unable to find paperwork proving he renounced his British citizenship.
Now the opposition has produced Polish legal advice it said casts doubts on the status of Liberal backbencher Jason Falinski, while the government has threatened to refer Labor MP Susan Lamb to the High Court.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pleaded for a ceasefire on Sunday, saying Australians were annoyed by the whole affair.
"To make sure that 2018 is a better year for Australian politics than 2017 I think both sides need to reach sensible compromise," he told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.
Labor previously asked parliament to send nine MPs - four of its own, four Liberals and crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie - to the High Court, but the coalition blocked the move.
The prime minister and Mr Shorten will start Monday on their knees at the traditional church service to open the parliamentary year in Canberra.
The reflective tone will continue later in the morning with a memorial service for former Labor government minister Barry Cohen.
Treasurer Scott Morrison will keep pushing for the second tranche of corporate tax cuts but debate in the lower house isn't scheduled until Wednesday.
When it gets to the Senate, the government's task of finding votes has been made slightly easier by the recruitment of South Australian senator Lucy Gichuhi from the crossbench to the Liberal Party.
In the upper house, the Liberals' Jim Molan will become the latest senator to be sworn in, replacing the NSW Nationals' Fiona Nash who was disqualified due to her dual citizenship.
One Nation senator Fraser Anning is set to make a short statement indicating his resignation from Pauline Hanson's party and intention to sit as an independent, representing rural and regional Queensland.
Senator Hanson has written to the Senate President Scott Ryan recommending Senator Anning be referred to the High Court over his alleged "bankrupt" status.
But the major parties won't support the referral and Senator Anning - who had a bankruptcy petition against him withdrawn last year - denied having any eligibility problems.
NSW Labor senator Sam Dastyari formally resigned from parliament on January 25 and while the party chose former premier Kristina Keneally to replace him, the timing of her swearing-in would depend on when the NSW parliament's two houses can formally endorse her.
And adding to the musical chairs, former attorney-general George Brandis will deliver his valedictory on Wednesday, before he heads off to London to become Australia's UK high commissioner.
