Former Muir staffer, Peter Breen, pictured after having skin cancer removed from his face. Mr Breen took Thursday and Friday off last week to have a skin cancer cut from his face at Sydney's Westmead Hospital. But after Senator Muir and Mr Littler discovered he had then flown to Byron Bay on Friday afternoon to attend last weekend's Byron Bay Writer's Festival, he was sacked. Mr Breen said he was also accused of leaking the incident report to Fairfax Media - a claim he disputes, claiming Mr Druery passed on the report. "With the benefit of hindsight, I should have written the incident report in more balanced terms, and giving Mr Druery a copy proved to be a serious error of judgment on my part,' he said.

He said Senator Muir was "just the kind of person we should have in Parliament". In a statement late on Tuesday, Senator Muir said it was "very upsetting" to lose two people from his team, and that it was his decision alone to sack the pair. "I wish to clarify that Mr Breen's medical appointment was on Thursday," he said. "Mr Breen advised he was too ill to work on Friday. He subsequently used Friday to travel to and attend a festival more than 700km from Sydney." Senator Muir said he hoped to rebuild his team. Mr Littler did not return calls from Fairfax Media.

Senator Muir's office was rocked last week amid allegations of racism, sexism, bullying – and even personal threats against the rookie senator – at the heart of a dispute that led to the sacking of Mr Druery. Mr Druery, known as the ''preference whisperer'' for his success in getting micro parties elected, was escorted out of the Parliament by officers on Thursday night. He was sacked by an email from Senator Muir that accused him of ''not getting along with other staff''. But Mr Druery has laid the blame for his shock dismissal with Mr Littler, who he accused on Friday of plotting to take Senator Muir's seat in Parliament through a bizarre plot known as ''Plan Z''. Fairfax Media last week obtained an incident report, written by Mr Breen to the Parliament, dated July 18.

It raised serious questions about Mr Littler's conduct during his fortnight in the Senator's Canberra office. It outlines ''numerous clashes'' between Mr Druery and Mr Littler and states that ''at least one Senator'' has complained about Mr Littler. ''Mr Littler and Mr Druery had numerous clashes about Mr Littler's presence in the office, his volatile temper, aggression, offensive language, inappropriate remarks about Aboriginal people, Asians and women and his disagreeable demeanour more generally when confronted by people or issues that did not comply with his world view,'' the letter states. ''[Littler] is a heavy smoker and appeared to have no consideration for the comfort of others in the confined space of the Canberra office. ''At least one senator complained about the way they were treated by Mr Littler as did lobbyists and staffers.

''It should also be said that Mr Druery has had a difficult relationship with Mr Littler ever since he, Mr Littler, made personal threats against Senator Muir prior to the Senator taking office over the appropriate pay-grade at which Mr Littler and his wife should be employed.'' Loading Mr Breen ends the letter by saying: ''I have been advised by Human Resources at the Department of Finance that I have a legal obligation to make this incident report.'' Follow us on Twitter