Malcolm Turnbull may get his wish after all.

The message came from three of those Senators who seemed to think Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not be terribly upset by the prospect.

One of the three, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, speculated the Senate would be shut down before there was even a vote on the DD trigger legislation to revive the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

And it sounded like he and fellow senators Glenn Lazarus and Nick Xenophon were starting their campaigns during their addresses to the National Press Club in Canberra.

At issue was the fate of the ABCC legislation — to establish a construction industry watchdog — which will be decided when Parliament is called back early on April 18.

The Prime Minister will need the votes of at least six of the cross bench senators to help the

Government overcome the combined numbers of Labor and the Greens.

But the Government has said it could reject all attempts to amend the ABCC bill, limiting the grounds for negotiation with the cross bench.

The Prime Minister has made clear he will call a double dissolution election, probably on July 2, if the legislation is not passed.

Senator Leyonhjelm said he doubted the debate would get to the third reading stage, just before a final vote. Or perhaps to any vote at all.

“It may not even get to the second reading,” Senator Leyonhjelm said.

“Now, don’t go reporting this as fact, but if Labor moved a motion on April 18 or 19 to adjourn the Senate until May 3 or 10, I reckon most of my crossbench colleagues would support it.

“There’s no point hanging around if the end result is obvious. So minimal debate, failure to pass, bring on the double dissolution.

“And frankly, I don’t believe the PM will care. Malcolm Turnbull has shown little interest in the ABCC bill beyond using it as a stick to beat Labor and the crossbench.”

Senator Lazarus said he wanted the legislation expanded to become a national corruption-fighting body across all areas, such as the NSW-based Independent Commission Against Corruption.

If it wasn’t, it would not get his vote.

“I mean we see on a weekly basis certain areas, even in Malcolm’s own political party, issues of corruption,” he said.

“At the end of the day, to the average Australian, this isn’t a real important issue for them. Quality of living, the cost of living, the health system, the cuts to education that Malcolm has been announcing over the last couple of weeks, they’re real issues for the nation, not

an ABCC or a commission that’s going to target one particular area.

“So I guess that’s why I’m saying make it a national thing.”

Senator Xenophon said he, too, wanted the ABCC concept expanded but declined to say whether he would vote for it if there was no expansion.

“I think that the Government, if it’s fair dinkum about the nation’s productivity, about jobs, they need to be broader than that,” he said.

“Now whether you attach it as a condition to this bill is, I think, problematic, but there ought to be a commitment from government in terms of issues of procurement, of anti-dumping policies because my concern is that the Government has an ideological pursuit of the ABCC that doesn’t match the crisis we see in other sectors of the economy.”

The three senators made clear whatever the type of election, they would be back afterwards.

“A double dissolution will not clear out the cross bench,” said Senator David Leyonhjelm.

“Neither will it transform the Turnbull government, assuming there still is one, into competent negotiators with the cross bench.

“As has been said many times in the past, this election will be about trust — who do you trust to balance the budget, lower taxes and end the nanny State?”