Prime Minister Tony Abbott has left a senior delegation of Indonesian officials, including its Vice-President, cooling their heels while he remained in Parliament for a debate about whether he could call Bill Shorten "Electricity Bill".

Less than 24 hours after calling for a new respect in Parliament, the Prime Minister stayed on the floor of the House of Representatives for a largely pointless debate about name-calling after his leader of the house, Christopher Pyne, referred to the Opposition Leader as "Electricity Bill" over Labor's refusal to back the repeal of the carbon tax.

The barb came as government frustration boiled over when Labor sought more information on the government's Operation Sovereign Borders policy, designed to stop asylum seeker boats, while the government wanted to move on to its priority legislation to repeal the carbon tax.