jambo12, there was nothing, I repeat nothing that prohibited the Malaysian deal from being negotiated to repeat the process. There is absolutely no link, statement or document in the public domain that prohibited any further negotiation to repeat the deal.
So if I ask you to provide "a link to a statement from the Malaysian government stating that" it prohibits any further negotiation to repeat the process, I doubt you could provide that link. No matter how long I hold my breath.
As far as the numbers in the Senate go, Labor did not have the numbers in the Senate to automatically pass legislation.
Labor didn't have a majority in the Senate, the same as the Coalition do not have a majority in the Senate.
All Labor's legislation had to be negotiated with others parties in the Senate to obtain the numbers. (The same as the Coalition needs to also do now.)
But surely you already know this, and I don't know why you are pretending otherwise.