The federal government is attempting to suspend parliamentary proceedings to fast-track laws through the House of Representatives to sell its majority stake in Telstra.

Leader of the House, Tony Abbott, moved for suspension of standing orders for immediate debate on the five bills that will allow the government to sell its shares in the telecommunications giant either through a single tranche or several tranches.

But Labor has voted against the motion.

The bills passed the Senate last night but now need to be cleared by the lower house before becoming law.

The government won Senate support for the sale of its remaining 51.8 percent share with AU$3.1 billion worth of sweeteners for bush telecommunications services. As part of the deal, AU$2 billion will be put into a fund to pay for improvements to telecommunications services in the bush, with another AU$1.1 billion to help roll out hi-tech services.

The House of Representatives must agree to Senate amendments from the first three Telstra bills, which passed the lower house on Monday night, and then the remaining two bills -- which enables the sale to go ahead - will be introduced.

The House must pass the bills before the government receives the all clear to sell its stake in the telco.

Manager of opposition business Julia Gillard said Labor would not agree to Abbott's motion: "Even in the dying days of this debate ... the government is obviously worried about losing those National party members and we oppose this resolution," she told parliament.

But the government used its numbers in the House of Representatives to force debate on the bills, winning the vote 76 votes to 57.

Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran moved a motion for the Senate amendments to be agreed to and said today was a difficult day for the Labor party: "Today is the fruition of policy we took to election, we faced the voters, we put our policy proposals, unlike the Labor party," he said.

"The amendments that will be considered bring about the full sale of Telstra in the interest of all Australians... We are very proud that this legislation will now be passed with the vote of the House of Representatives," said McGauran.

Abbott successfully guillotined debate to ensure a speedy passage of the bills: "There has been more than enough debate over this issue, the time for debating this issue is passing and the time for deciding this issue has finally come," he said.

Gillard said the move to gag debate was an act of hypocrisy from Abbott and urged any government MPs opposed to the sale of Telstra to cross the floor: "We of course remember the days when the leader of the house was the bovver boy, stand over man of Australian politics, now he's just pathetic and this is just a pathetic resolution moved to try and guillotine this debate through this House from a minister who only yesterday ... was complaining about debate being guillotined."

"It is an act of hypocrisy from everybody who votes for it, we know this is about containing debate to try and keep dissenters in the cart in the desperate hope that none of them split on the floor today and if any of them in cocky's corner have got the courage of their convictions, they won't be voting for this, and they won't be voting for this legislation this afternoon," added Gillard.

The Telstra (Transition to Full Private Ownership) Bill 2005 and the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Issues) Bill 2005 were introduced into the House of Representatives.

McGauran said by selling Telstra, the government could focus on its core business of setting the rules for the whole telecommunications industry: "The bills are an integral part of a comprehensive package of measures designed to enable the Commonwealth to sell its remaining equity interest in Telstra and to give Australians access to first class telecommunications services now and into the future."

"This package of legislation builds on the strong foundation that the government has already laid for the telecommunications sector," said McGauran.

McGauran also said the bills formed a broad integrated package designed to provide an appropriate framework for a Telstra sale scheme, provide a regulatory framework that promotes an open, competitive telecommunications market and addressed concerns of rural and regional Australia about the adequacy of telecommunications services.

"Telstra will be able to focus on being competitive and delivering the best services to its customers... Rural Australia can be assured that ongoing targeted funding will allow them access to 21st century telecommunications services that are comparable to those in metropolitan areas," he said.

But Opposition Leader Kim Beazley vowed to fight the bill to its death: "We oppose this legislation in its entirety and we have done consistently since the government first brought this forward."

"This is a shameless, shameful moment ... as the government bulldozes through the sale of Telstra legislation... And it's a sad moment for the Australian people who are overwhelmingly opposed to the sale... We witnessed both in this chamber and over in the other chamber an almost obscene dancing by our political opponents when this legislation passed through," said Beazley.