Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has returned fire at Prime Minister Julia Gillard following her attacks on the party, labelling her comments "obnoxious".
Ms Gillard has apparently sought to distance herself from her minority government partners, after saying the Greens wrongly reject the need for a strong economy.
It comes after a speech two weeks ago in which she called the party extreme.
Senator Brown said one slight was excusable, but two was deliberate.
"The turn of those words (were) carefully weighed I would say," he told ABC Television on Monday.
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"That 1.5 million Australian voters who backed the Greens at the last election weren't people who would love their family, or love their country or who wouldn't want to do the right thing was obnoxious, quite insulting and not acceptable."
He said Ms Gillard had seemingly adopted a "very curious political strategy" of turning on her supporters in government.
"Ultimately prime ministers make these decisions and they know that they live by them," Senator Brown said.
He is seeking a personal face-to-face explanation from the prime minister on the matter and is trying to bring forward their next meeting, slated for April 15.
He recommended the government shift its target to the opposition if it wants to continue with the insults.
But he denied the Greens will rescind its support for Labor, saying the party was committed to providing stable government and that the spat - which Opposition Leader Tony Abbott called a "phony lovers' tiff" - was only an issue of "personal discourse".
