Speaking to Sky on Sunday Morning, Senator Brandis said Mr Turnbull's years in the "political wilderness" after being dumped as the Liberal leader in 2009 had given him the wisdom needed for longevity – and the first few weeks of the new parliament had proven it.

"We've had a great week, in fact we have had a great fortnight," Senator Brandis said. "We've had the omnibus budget savings bill go through…we've had an enormously difficult issue, that is the issue of the plebiscite which had…so much potential to cause division in the party room, landed in a manner which both sides of the argument could accept, and we've had the superannuation reforms as well, which had caused quite a lot of heat on my side of politics, landed in a way that the coalition party room will accept and ultimately I am very sure the Labor party will accept.

"And what those three issues, all of which dealt with so well, tell us…that the byword of the 45th parliament is compromise."

Last week marked one year since Mr Turnbull became Prime Minister and Senator Brandis said while it was too early to judge his prime ministership, he had the potential to join Robert Menzies and John Howard as, in his view, one of the nation's greatest leaders.

"I think the government and Mr Turnbull have been very surefooted in this parliament," he said.

"Of course the election was a disappointment but we did win the election.

"And the point I made about Menzies and Howard is that they were both came to be in the fullness of their careers, very, very great prime ministers, in my view, he two greatest prime ministers Australia has ever had.

"But they had this in common with Mr Turnbull – both of them, Menzies in 39-41 and Mr Howard in the 1990s and Mr Turnbull in 2008-09 had an initial period in the leadership of their party which was not regarded as successful.

"And in all three cases, after an initial period of leadership relatively early in their careers, they were rejected by the party and then they had their wilderness years and they drew from those wilderness years the wisdom that years in the wilderness can bring to senior political practitioners.

"And they came back into the debate and we all know now, that Menzies long term as prime minister, from 1949 to 1966 was the greatest - certainly in terms of longevity, but I would also argue in terms of achievement, was the greatest prime ministership that Australia ever saw – Howard's period, the second longest serving prime minister, almost 12 years, was another very great prime ministership which saw enormous achievement.

"I believe Malcolm Turnbull has it in him to do that.

"I believe he has learned a lot of lessons from the very, very bruising experience of politics at the highest level and the way that the government has conducted itself, since the commencement of the 45th parliament gives us reason to believe that this can be a great prime ministership."

The first sitting of the parliament was marked by the government losing three procedural motions in the lower house, the first time a majority government had lost a vote in more than 50 years, after Labor took advantage of Coalition MPs leaving parliament early. The government was also moved to compromise on its "ironclad" superannuation policy, after pushback from the joint party room, which included George Christensen threatening to cross the floor. Parliament will resume next month.