Malcolm Turnbull could get a double-dissolution election trigger within days of the parliament resuming in two weeks.
As the latest Newspoll put Labor in the lead for the first time since Tony Abbott lost the leadership, the parliament is scheduled to return on April 18 to debate a bill to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
If the bill fails to pass, the budget will be delivered on May 3 and Mr Turnbull will seek a double-dissolution election for July 2.
The prime minister told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday the ABCC was the solution to lawlessness in the construction sector which was holding back jobs and economic growth.
However, Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm - who has been a key backer of government bills - told AAP the government had "no chance" of securing the votes of six crossbenchers to pass the bill.
"They don't expect to get six votes," he said.
The NSW senator predicted Labor would seek to put an end to the bill debate shortly after parliament resumed and adjourn the Senate until budget day.
"Assuming there is no appetite for a prolonged debate, we will all vote to adjourn and go back to campaigning," Senator Leyonhjelm said.
"Why would we want to sit around listening to the same debate again?"
Independent senator Glenn Lazarus said he would not be supporting the bill unless the government supported his idea of a national corruption watchdog covering all aspects of business, industry and the public sector.
"They know my position - if they don't change it into a national corruption watchdog I won't vote for it," he told ABC TV.
Mr Turnbull has ruled out supporting such a body.
The Newspoll gave Labor a 51-49 two-party preferred lead over the coalition, but Mr Turnbull remained preferred prime minister leading Labor leader Bill Shorten 48-27 per cent.
Senator Leyonhjelm said the polls suggested Mr Turnbull was "losing his momentum" and crossbench senators did not fear a double-dissolution election, in which the vote quota for achieving a seat is halved.
Asked about the polls, the prime minister said he would "leave the commentary to commentators".
Mr Shorten told reporters in Perth he would not be getting "too excited" about the polls.
"We have ticked the box of being a strong opposition ... (and) I will keep working every day with positive plans for the future of Australia," he said.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said voters were waking up to the fact that Mr Turnbull had been a "huge disappointment".
Some MPs are concerned the parliament will be brought back at a cost of around $3 million with little work to do in the House of Representatives but wait for the Senate to complete its business.
"The recall is already a deeply cynical political exercise by the government, but at least let's get some value out of it for the taxpayer," independent MP Andrew Wilkie told AAP.
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