If you ask the prime minister, Peter Dutton and Mathias Cormann they scored an A by convincing Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie to repeal the medevac laws.

However, refugee advocates, Labor and the Greens would give the cabinet ministers an F for failing to show humanity.

The prime minister certainly failed to convince the Senate to pass his "ensuring integrity" union-busting legislation, with One Nation blindsiding him on the final vote.

But Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter - who is not one to easily give up any fight - brought the laws back to the lower house on Wednesday and rammed them through.

The draft bill, which won't be debated in the Senate until early 2020, came complete with a set of amendments the government hopes will shift Pauline Hanson's vote to their side of the chamber.

However, it was the report card on the nation's schools that had many scratching their heads in parliament.

Despite billions of dollars in funding for public and private schools, the Programme for International Student Assessment found the maths skills of Australian students slid back at least a year compared to their international counterparts.

"The outcomes ... are deeply concerning to the government," Morrison said in question time.

Education Minister Dan Tehan - who will meet with his state and territory counterparts next week to discuss reforms - sought to shift the blame.

"My message to the state and territory education ministers is this: leave the teachers' union talking points at home and be ambitious," he said.

"Our school systems also need to de-clutter their curriculums and get back to basics."

And Labor leader Anthony Albanese's response to the education report card?

"This is a big F, a big F for fail, and it will be of concern to every parent out there ... and indeed students."

Morrison and Albanese used their respective final party room meetings for 2019 on Tuesday to urge MPs to learn the lessons of the past year.

The prime minister compared the position the coalition is in today to that of the 2001-2004 term of the Howard government, which had built on groundwork laid over the coalition's preceding years in office.

"We can be proud of what we have achieved and also what we have saved the country from," he said.

"If we hold our unity and don't allow ourselves to be distracted, then this can and will be one of the great terms of coalition government."

Albanese urged his colleagues and voters not to be "quiet Australians" - the catchphrase coined by the prime minister after his election win in May.

"Scott Morrison talks about quiet Australians. What he really means is everyone should shut up and listen to him," Albanese told the caucus.

"We won't be quiet. Australians won't be quiet. It's not our nature as a people. We're upfront. We're bold. We talk about things. We put forward our view. It's the Australian way."

The Labor leader is keen to turn these words into actions in coming weeks, with his party kicking off the policy development process and holding a Towards 2022 conference this weekend in Sydney.

He's also poised to take a road trip next week through regional Queensland, which was ground zero for Labor's defeat at the polls.

Albanese's task is to show voters that Labor is not just listening to the angry Australians who dominate the Twittersphere and glue themselves to roads to highlight the "climate emergency", but those who backed the coalition and minor parties in droves.

It's a big ask for someone who hails from Labor's left faction to steer the party towards the "sensible centre".

But there's plenty of time over the Christmas-New Year period to study the electorate, let voters do all the teaching - and perhaps there might be an A at the end of the class.

Australian Associated Press