The federal government faces an uphill battle as the Senate prepares to debate its controversial plans to drug test welfare recipients.
The proposal, part of a broad package of reforms to the welfare system, cleared parliament's lower house in September.
Labor and the Greens are flatly opposed to the drug tests, so the government must court support from the Senate crossbench.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter said negotiations were going well and the vast majority of the "long, complicated and important" legislation would clear the upper house.
But his plan to drug test 5000 new jobseekers in three different locations from January could prove a stumbling block.
"I think governments should be able - and should be supported by the Senate - to trial new approaches," Mr Porter told Sky News on Wednesday.
There were no overseas examples of drug testing welfare recipients to mandate treatment, he said.
"We would measure it rigorously and transparently and if it didn't work we would look at other things that might work.
"But I think trials are important and they're part of any rational government approach to problems that have lasted for decades without much movement."
Nick Xenophon, whose bloc of three votes in the upper house will be crucial, has given conditional support to the bill, saying he wants to work constructively with government to help people off drugs.
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