Another Liberal MP has claimed that some party moderates went back on their work to Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the religious discrimination bill.
Queensland MP Warren Entsch confirmed he was in a meeting where moderate MPs discussed the bill directly with Mr Morrison.
He told SBS News on Friday some of the MPs gave Mr Morrison their word they would support the bill, but later crossed the floor.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton made a similar claim earlier on Friday.
Both have dismissed suggestions the Prime Minister's leadership is in doubt.
Mr Entsch, himself a moderate, said the MPs were not trying to destabilise the government but took action in "self-interest" because they were worried about how the vote will impact on their chances of re-election.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Dutton said Mr Morrison was "misled" by five coalition MPs who crossed the floor over the religious discrimination bill.
Liberal MPs Trent Zimmerman, Fiona Martin, Dave Sharma, Bridget Archer and Katie Allen crossed the floor to support a crossbench and Labor amendment to protect gay and transgender students from being expelled from religious schools.
The contentious bill passed the lower house following a marathon debate in the early hours of Thursday morning, but the government decided not to proceed with debate in the Senate due to a lack of support.
Mr Dutton claimed the MPs who crossed the floor had blindsided the government about their intention to support the legislation.
"(Scott Morrison) was, frankly, misled ... but there are undertakings that were given, the undertaking wasn't honoured," Mr Dutton told ABC Radio on Friday.
"The government doesn't go into a vote like that unless assurances have been given."
The religious discrimination laws were a major election commitment by Mr Morrison.
It is now unlikely the laws will be debated in the upper house before the next election, due to be held by May, with just two sitting days left for the Senate.
It's also been revealed, moderate Liberals were not shown legal advice the attorney-general is using to justify saying amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act would increase discrimination against students.
Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has cited legal advice saying the non-government amendments that passed the lower house undermined existing protections and broadened the grounds on which religious schools could discriminate.
But Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg, who intended to cross the floor in the Senate if the government tried to repeal the amendment, confirmed he hadn't seen the legal advice in detail.
"I haven't seen that advice in detail. It's been a busy week, I'll have a look at the advice," he said on Friday.
"There are a lot of good measures in the bill but as we put in place that particular law, we need to make sure we protect all minority groups in doing so."
Another moderate Liberal also confirmed they had not seen the advice before voting on the amendments.
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie - who moved the amendment - only received a letter from the attorney-general after the fact and said it didn't include the legal advice underpinning the letter.
Ms Sharkie called for Senator Cash to release the full legal advice, casting skepticism on its validity.
" I have deep concerns over the cited but unseen legal advice and have a sense of deja vu after the government previously misrepresented legal advice on the medevac transfer bill," she wrote on Twitter.
"If the government was genuinely worried over the so-called unintended consequences, it could draft its own amendments in the Senate to address said issues."
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus - who was copied into the letter - has described the move as a desperate attempt by the prime minister to cover up a "humiliating defeat on the floor of the House".
Finance Minister and government leader in the Senate Simon Birmingham said the issues within the religious discrimination laws were complex.
"These are challenging debates in terms of how you ensure that interplay between those anti-discrimination laws work in a way that respects everybody and protects everybody to the maximum extent possible," he told Sky News.
"The prime minister has worked through very carefully to ensure that we brought a religious discrimination bill to the parliament, his commitment to that was very clear."
Senator Birmingham said Senator Cash was working through the details surrounding the bill, after it was scrapped from debate in the Senate.
The government was unlikely to have the numbers to pass the bill in the Senate in the form it originally intended, having held urgent meetings with stakeholders after the vote in the House of Representatives.
Mr Dutton said the religious discrimination bill was put to a vote in the lower house due to guarantees being given from Liberal MPs they would support the bill.
"We had very clear statements from a number of people, including beyond the five (who crossed the floor)," he said.
"The prime minister based his judgement, his actions, his decisions on a perfectly reasonable basis following discussions, and it's difficult when you get to the floor of the parliament and those undertakings aren't honoured."
However, Mr Dutton said due to the tight numbers in parliament, the result would have been the same regardless of how many MPs crossed the floor.
The government currently holds 76 seats in the lower house, the bare minimum for a majority in the House of Representatives.
With additional reporting by SBS News.
