Labor MPs have been told to hammer home to their constituents the importance of the Senate in the run-up to the election, in an attempt to reverse the party’s upper house decline that is bedevilling its policy ambitions.

As the Albanese government spends the final week of Parliament for the year wrangling 14 extra votes for every bill it needs to pass, Special Minister of State Don Farrell told MPs to stress the importance of the Senate when doorknocking, and in the literature they sent voters.