Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has seen his Electoral Ammendment Bill become law and given himself the option of a double dissolution election in July. Picture: AAP / Mick Tsikas

The Senate president, Tasmanian Liberal Stephen Parry, has been given the power to bring the upper house back for an early budget sitting.

A successful last-minute amendment from Labor means the president will have to either get approval of party leaders or an absolute majority of senators to change the next sitting day from May 10, the scheduled date for the federal budget.

The government’s move gives itself the option of bringing both houses back on May 3 to deliver an earlier budget and set itself up for a double-dissolution election in July.

Earlier, after nearly 40 hours of debate the legislation to reform electoral voting moved to the House of Representatives where it was passed 81 votes to 31, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull headed to see Governor-General Peter Cosgrove to get Royal Assent for the Senate Reform Bills.

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Senator Mathias Cormann told the Parliament is was the seventh longest debate on any piece of legislation since 1990.

The long wait. Commonwealth cars wait for MPs at the Senate side of Parliament House in Canberra.Source:News Corp Australia

“The Senate has made a judgment in relation to the form of the Bill that should go forward,” he said.

“The government supports the final form of this Bill.

“We will be supporting the Bill as amended by the Senate, as a government in the House of Representatives, and this will mean that for any future election after 1 July 2016, this will be the voting arrangements that will apply for the Australian Senate.”

Resting her eyes. Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash. Picture: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

Senator Cormann said the legislation meant “people across Australia will be able to determine what happens to their vote.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Penny Wong said the process had been rushed and signalled a “new phase in the relationship” between the Coalition and the Greens.

Losing the will to live. Senator John Madigan. Picture: Kym SmithSource:News Corp Australia

“It has been about the short-term advantage and the long-term advantage, the short-term advantage, the ability and the tools to go to a double dissolution, and the long-term advantage of what this means for the Greens and the Coalition,” she said.

“It will mean up to three million voters, votes going into the bin or being corralled to one of the major parties or the Greens.

“This is legislation which is about purging the Senate of minor parties and Independents.”

Showing the strain. Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon. Picture: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said it was “a most significant day for democracy”.

“Yes, many other improvements are needed,” she said.

“Many other improvements needed but today clearly has been an advance for our democratic processes.”

Earlier, Mr Cormann said the government was prepared to see the Senate sit until Good Friday to get its voting reforms passed.

The Daily Telegraph reports the “Senate Sleepover” will cost taxpayers around $500,000 in rescheduled flights and accommodation for elected members and their staff.

The passage of the legislation, which aims to stop Senators with tiny primary votes getting elected using complex preference deals, is inevitable after the government struck a deal with the Greens and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon.

Senator Xenophon wore pyjamas into the chamber at one point last night, but was told he must change back into his suit.

It all got too much for Nick Xenophon who resorted to putting his pyjamas on. Picture: Francis Keany/ABCSource:ABC

“Thank God for Kmart at Belconnen which is open 24/7,” Senator Xenophon told Sky.

“I just wanted to make a point.

“I amused most of my colleagues but annoyed some. I only had a few minutes in the chamber with the PJs.”

ALP Senator Glenn Sterle is understood to have spend time during the debate talking about his colonoscopy, while Senator Doug Cameron quoted Monty Python.

“I fart in your general direction,” he said.

Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill spent time talking about the definition of the word “filibuster”, while Greens Leader Richard Di Natale was reportedly mocked for wearing a skivvy in a recent photoshoot for GQ magazine.

Innovation Minister Christopher Pyne said he was looking forward to seeing the reforms pass.

“I think the public are thoroughly sick of the circus in the Senate,” he said.

“These reforms will pass. They will pass today.

“The government has known that all along. The Labor Party knows that. The Greens and the crossbenchers know that.

“So they are really just being bloody-minded in their efforts to filibuster the debate.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told the ABC the Labor Party would not be “a rubber stamp”.

He denied the party was filibustering, claiming Senators were standing up for what they believed in.