A cross bench senator considered most closely aligned with the Liberal Party says the government is "hopeless" at negotiating.
NSW Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm has voted with the government on 90 per cent of occasions since taking up his seat in July.
His vote is one of six the government relies on to pass bills through the Senate.
"They're hopeless at making clear what their objectives are, they're hopeless at convincing me to vote for their legislation," Senator Leyonhjelm told Sky News on Tuesday.
"They have a few exceptions and you think OK, now they've figured it out then they go back to normal again."
He said the Labor opposition had told him he would be treated with more respect if the party was in government, providing a "channel" to the prime minister and senior ministers.
"The government should certainly lift its game," the senator said.
However he took a shot at the ALP, saying it had not yet shown itself to be an alternative government.
"They haven't got any alternative ideas," he said.
"There's two years to go to an election ... so they say there's plenty of time to put forward their policies."
Senator Leyonhjelm said his vote on other bills could be predicated on the Liberals allowing a conscience vote on his bill to enable same-sex marriage.
"It's kind of like the old joke about going to the dentist and you reach up under his jacket and you grab him by his delicate parts and you squeeze a little bit and say we're not going to hurt each other are we," he said.
"My advice to Tony Abbott is, let's not hurt each other."
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