MP calls for 'mix-and-match' parliament

Independent MP Rob Oakeshott has raised the idea of a mix-and-match government, where former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd could serve as foreign minister under the leadership of Tony Abbott.

Mr Oakeshott and fellow independent MPs Bob Katter and Tony Windsor could determine which party will form the next government.

The three will meet in Canberra on Tuesday, and Mr Oakeshott also hopes to meet the new Australian Greens MP for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, and Western Australian Nationals MP Tony Crook, who has promised to act as an independent.

Mr Oakeshott said voters had demonstrated they were tired of party politics, and he would consider moving away from usual power sharing arrangements.

He floated the idea of a government formed by MPs from all sides, for example former coalition environment minister Malcolm Turnbull serving under the Labor prime ministership of Julia Gillard, or Mr Rudd in Mr Abbott's cabinet.

"It is a cheeky option," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

"I do think here is a moment where we can explore the edges, and explore outside the box."

Bipartisan undercurrent

Mr Oakeshott said a 76-member government was "a by-election away from trouble".

"We need to get a buffer going in my view," he said.

"There is a lot more going on in this parliament in a bipartisan spirit than is given credit."

Mr Oakeshott said it was his understanding that Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Mr Abbott Abbott actually got on and were friends.

"That is not presented in Australian public life, and it should be."

Onshore processing

Australia should avoid exporting its asylum seeker problem to Nauru or East Timor if it can, Oakeshott said ahead of talks with the Coalition and Labor.

Australia should try not to "export problems", he said, as there was likely a number of communities that would want the jobs and funding a processing centre would bring.

"We can consider onshore and offshore processing, step up on what is a regional issue, rather than being driven by fear," he told reporters in Canberra.

Mr Oakeshott rejected the rhetoric on asylum seekers, in particular the term "boat people".

"I think there are people who are being bullish in their language and need to unwind some of the damage that they've done," he said.

"My comment in response is that we are the moat people.

"We have a big bunch of water around this country, strategically we can deal with this issue a lot better than most other countries in the world."

His stance puts him at odds with Mr Katter, who wants asylum seeker boats turned around.

'Kindred spirits'

Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne says he and his leader are kindred spirits with Oakeshott.

Mr Pyne says coalition reform plans had been rebuffed by the Labor government during the previous parliament.

Suggested changes had included time limits on questions and answers and a separate question time for backbenchers to quiz ministers.

"There's a whole range of things that we can do to make question time and parliament work better," Mr Pyne told SkyNews on Tuesday.

"The independents will find a friend in (Opposition Leader) Tony (Abbott)and I, at least, about parliamentary reform."

Mr Pyne said Labor was misguided if it thought having a higher two-party preferred vote from Saturday's election was more important than the number of seats it might end up with at the end of counting.

The independents did not believe the line, he said.

Mr Pyne said personality clashes between the Nationals and the independents were secondary to the national interest.

"What's important is what's good for the nation," he said.

Personal animosity within the Labor party was reaching a bubbling point, Mr Pyne said.

"The Labor Party is set to explode into civil war."