SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: Next week, the new Senate sits for the first time, and among the freshmen senators will be Ricky Muir, the former timber worker from country Victoria, representing the recently-formed Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party.

Ricky Muir has hardly been seen in public since being elected with just over half of one per cent of the primary vote.

But it turns out his story is as much about of the small group of people who helped bring him to power, as it is about Ricky Muir himself.

Madeleine Morris went in search of the fledgling senator and the backroom powerbrokers behind him.

MADELEINE MORRIS, REPORTER: Hi, Mrs Muir. Hi. I'm Madeleine from ABC. Just looking for Ricky.

RICKY MUIR'S WIFE: No, he's not available to talk at the moment, sorry.

MADELEINE MORRIS: OK. Is he in Canberra?

RICKY MUIR'S WIFE: I'm not telling you where he is, sorry.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Ricky Muir may be the shyest person ever elected to the Australian Parliament.

RICKY MUIR'S WIFE: You can try the media person.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Yeah. We've been trying them for a couple of weeks and they're not getting back to us. ... Why won't he talk to us?

RICKY MUIR'S WIFE: Once the time comes, he will, but ...

MADELEINE MORRIS: So when's that going to be?

RICKY MUIR'S WIFE: I'm not sure. That's not at my discretion.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Even the party members who helped get this motoring enthusiast elected can't shed much light on their candidate.

STUART BROWN, ACTING CHAIRMAN, AMEP VICTORIA: He's passionate about four wheel driving and looking after the bush and, um, that he seemed like a really nice, genuine guy to be doing the role.

MADELEINE MORRIS: But really, you don't know that much about him, do you?

STUART BROWN: None of us do.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Nine month ago, Ricky Muir's surprise win in the Senate appeared to shock few people more than the 32-year-old timber worker himself.

JOURNALIST: Have you got a suit?

RICKY MUIR, THEN VICTORIAN SENATOR-ELECT (Sept. 2013): Ah, I've got some nice clothing, but I have not got a suit yet, but I will get one.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Since this interview with 7.30 last September, Ricky Muir has bought a suit, but he's only fronted the cameras twice.

RICKY MUIR: So the after-market industry is the industry, um, that is ... (pauses) ... (whispering) take a breath. Could I go out for a minute? I've got to ...

JOURNALIST II: Sure.

RICKY MUIR: Yep. Thank you very much.

MADELEINE MORRIS: As always, in the background is the voice of one man.

KEITH LITTLER, ADVISOR: Just breathe, be calm, sit, be relaxed in the chair.

RICKY MUIR: Yeah.

MADELEINE MORRIS: As the elusive senator-elect heads to Canberra this week, that reassuring voice will be with him every step of the way.

Is Keith Littler controlling Ricky Muir?

STUART BROWN: Well, Keith - I would say so. I mean, he's the one who's seen at every event. Every time we've seen Ricky Muir has Keith Littler in the photo.

MADELEINE MORRIS: The founder of the Motoring Enthusiast Party and the power behind Ricky Muir's throne is Keith Littler, a former truck driver, video producer and one-time professional musician.

Unlike his protege, Keith Littler isn't the shy type.

His Grunt Files website was a hub for car lovers. It was also leading the protest against new anti-hoon legislation which banned certain types of souped-up muscle cars in Littler's home state of Queensland.

But he wanted a bigger stage to fight back.

So he approached Alan Hay, a leader in the New South Wales car community and a member of the National Party, for advice.

ALAN HAY, AUST. CONFEDERATION OF MOTORING CLUBS: It was about getting the message out there for motoring enthusiasts to the wider public.

MADELEINE MORRIS: And you suggested ...

ALAN HAY: I suggested they could do that through a party.

MADELEINE MORRIS: So they went from forming almost overnight to sort of suddenly fielding candidates in Senate races across the country?

ALAN HAY: That was an eventuality that came about after my initial involvement. The vote whisperer, if you like, had then convinced them that they could be part of this country-wide approach to minor parties.

MADELEINE MORRIS: The vote whisperer is political consultant Glenn Druery.

GLENN DRUERY, POLITICAL CONSULTANT TO RICKY MUIR: Look, I think it's very reasonable for every day average Australians to have a chance to enter the political system and I'm very happy to be part of that.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Druery convinced the AMEP and other minor parties to sign up to complex preference-sharing deals to maximise their vote.

ALAN HAY: And that's when they started having to find candidates to run in every state.

MADELEINE MORRIS: So it was really only initially formed particularly for Queensland, but then it was the involvement of Glenn Druery, which got it to be a nation-wide campaign?

ALAN HAY: Oh, definitely. And at that point I was concerned that they had forgotten about the issues and that political ego had taken over.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Glenn Druery's preference deals worked. In Victoria, Ricky Muir's 0.51 per cent of the primary vote was converted into a Senate seat. Instead of crowing about their success, party HQ immediately went into lockdown. Internal party messages leaked to 7.30 show AMEP office holders tried to silence members.

(Sept. 2013, male voiceover): "Please continue to refrain from making comment about the party, and remember - lock your [Facebook] pages down as a matter of urgency."

(male voiceover): "Resist the temptation to give [journalists] something to keep them away. It doesn't work with seagulls and chips and it won't work with media and statements."

MADELEINE MORRIS: Early party members have become bewildered at the party's new direction.

STUART BROWN: Our party was supposed to be, when we first discussed it, a breath of fresh air, open, honest, talking with the motoring enthusiasts and then, ultimately, all motorists, to get their view of the little person.

MADELEINE MORRIS: So what are the policies of the Motoring Enthusiast Party?

STUART BROWN: This is the difficulty. We haven't discussed that. There isn't published policies and there certainly been a sit-down with all the members to discuss policy, which is what was proposed, but has never happened.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Ricky Muir, AMEP secretary Keith littler and advisor Glenn Druery have all declined multiple interview requests from 7.30. In fact they're so guarded, they won't even confirm the new senator's Victorian offices are in the Commonwealth building behind me and our detailed questions about policies and how those policies are decided upon have all gone unanswered.

ALAN HAY: It was never envisaged that they would actually succeed in gaining a seat.

MADELEINE MORRIS: So this is all caught them by surprise?

ALAN HAY: I think that's quite obvious from the media circus that has now ensued.

MADELEINE MORRIS: When Ricky Muir gets to Canberra, he'll have one more powerbroker to deal with.

CLIVE PALMER, LEADER, PALMER UNITED PARTY (June 25, 2014): In voting against the abolition of the Climate Change Authority, Palmer United senators will move an amendment to establish an emissions trading scheme.

MADELEINE MORRIS: But as last week's carbon pricing twist showed, hitching a wagon to the Palmer express can make for an unpredictable ride.

ALAN HAY: I've yet to find many motoring enthusiasts who are very keen about the new alliance with the Palmer United Party.

MADELEINE MORRIS: What do motoring enthusiasts say to you about that?

ALAN HAY: They're rather upset.

STUART BROWN: Well, it's about a Queensland bully getting with some more Queensland bullies.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Even those who've known Ricky since he was selling sawdust in Gippsland, like local farmer Richard Crook, are worried about outside influences, as much as they're pleased to have an ordinary bloke, their ordinary bloke, in Canberra.

RICHARD CROOK: I'm a bit concerned maybe that he might get controlled by certain people, but apart from that, I think he'll be OK, yeah, no worries at all. I mean, everybody has to start somewhere.

SARAH FERGUSON: Interesting times ahead next week. Madeleine Morris reporting.