You see the Coalition has said "no" to Labor again on a subject the government appears to have expected it to say "yes."

It is tough to be the tough cop on the beat in immigration.

After backing rushed legislation through the House covering special ministerial powers over deportations of non-citizens, the Coalition moved to not assist in the Senate.

"If the government can't even make their own case for urgent legislation, we can't do their jobs for them," opposition spokesman James Paterson sprung on journalists.

With the legislation now in inquiry mode until May 7, well past the next expected High Court hearing on released immigration detainees, the Home Affairs Minister is not having a good time of it.

Two times on Wednesday, Clare O'Neil was broadcast briskly walking away from media questions at Parliament House.

It is a notable event as the sight of a minister avoiding scrutiny has not been a feature thus far of the Albanese government.

The morning Sunrise appearance earlier had the minister accusing the opposition's Jane Hume of "actually sounding crazy right now" and Senator Hume calling the government's actions a "conspiracy to deceive."

Dare we say there is a sniff of crisis about it. Definitely crisis management.

Ms O'Neil, standing with the equally under pressure Immigration Minister Andrew Giles at a very well-attended, shouty press conference, denounced "politics" over what she said was "one of the most common sense things" she said she had seen come before the Parliament.

"How can we have a situation where we have no legal power to compel people to work with us to remove them from the country when they have no right to be here?" she said.

"Now, I would say to you, if you sat down with any Coalition MP, they'd probably nod their heads and say that sounds very sensible."

They probably did, but it does not matter.

The government either did not do its job with the Coalition, or is it just not used to dealing with the Coalition after 22 months of it mostly dealing itself out of everything.

And it has fallen largely on deaf ears that this is an attempt at a fix for Coalition inaction while in government.

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Ms O'Neil has pleaded for the Parliament to do its job, when the Senate's job is to scrutinise legislation.

The Home Affairs Minister ended the press conference when a report was raised that she made the head of her department Stephanie Foster cry after an "incredibly robust" dressing down in her office over the release of information the Opposition wanted.

She later moved, under opposition attempts at pressure in question time, to insist they have an "incredibly warm and collaborative relationship," although there's no real clarity.

"The secretary of my department and I have worked together really closely. And boy, have we got a job to do," Ms O'Neil told Parliament.

A job just made even harder by the opposition.