Self-styled preference whisperer Glenn Druery has offered his lucrative political consulting services — worth a reputed $50,000 per person elected — to WA election candidates, using his business card as a senior adviser for Senator Derryn Hinch.

The official business card is headed with a red impression of the Commonwealth crest and lists Mr Druery as a representative of Senator Hinch, but includes a personal, rather than official, email address.

It raises questions over whether Mr Druery is adequately separating his Commonwealth taxpayer-funded role as a political staffer from his private business interests.

Mr Druery handed the card to independent Legislative Council candidate Michael Tucak on the eve of "preferences weekend", just after the nominations ballot was held by the WA Electoral Commission (WAEC).

During this weekend, the voting tickets which are crucial to win an Upper House seat were hammered out before the WAEC deadline of February 13.

Mr Tucak says Mr Druery gave him his business card. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

"I was approached by Glenn Druery who introduced himself and gave me his card," he said.

"He suggested that we have a chat somewhere, private or quiet, which we unfortunately couldn't find at that time because there was too much activity in the foyer.

"So he suggested that we talk later and he give me a call or I give him a call."

Mr Druery initially denied he used his Senate business card for his political consultancy work.

But he later said he only gave out his Senate card because he did not have any of his personal business cards.

Senate role crosses over with consultancy

Mr Druery negotiated a preference deal for five parties, the so-called "Druery grouping", to give each party a strong chance of winning one designated Legislative Council region.

One of the parties in the deal, Flux the System, has admitted it is running 26 fake independent candidates to direct preferences so the party had the best chance of winning a seat.

The ABC has been told Mr Druery will get a $50,000 success fee for each candidate elected, on top of a signing fee for each party. Mr Druery disputes the figure but has declined to say how much he is paid.

But it is clear he is using the phone number and email addresses listed on his Senate business card to conduct his "preference-whispering" work.

The phone number and email address are both listed on the Facebook page of Independent Liaison, the name of his political consultancy, which was last updated on March 3.

The ABC has also seen an email about preference negotiations sent to some WA micro-parties in which Mr Druery is copied in with the email address listed on his Senate business card.

The ABC is aware of other examples of where Mr Druery's role as a political staffer, with access to all areas of Parliament House, crosses over with his lucrative consulting business.

For example, Cam Tinley, who is running for the Micro Business Party in the Legislative Council, claimed Mr Druery rang him from Canberra to talk about a preference deal.

"It was the beginning of February. He rang to talk about grouped independents," he claimed.

"He called out to someone 'are we still meeting with the Prime Minister in half an hour?'

"I just tried to hold back the laugh. It was pretty funny but that's what happened."

Just last week, when the ABC spoke to Mr Druery about his involvement in a micro-party preference deal, he said he had just finished a Senate estimates session.

"I'm paid to work 38 hours a week. Senate estimates we start about seven o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock at night. If I take a phone call from you, my mother, my friend, so what? Is it a problem?" he said.

Conflict of interest concerns

But Edith Cowan University ethics expert Julie Crews said she had concerns over potential conflicts of interest between Mr Druery's business interests and his official role.

For example, Ms Crews said the inclusion of a personal business email address on an official government business card "blurred the lines" over who he was representing.

"The email address should reflect the position he holds for Senator Hinch, there should be no ambiguity," he said.

There were also questions over whether Mr Druery was ensuring he adequately separated the two roles.

"For example, in his capacity as senior advisor to Senator Hinch, he would almost certainly have access to information not publicly available and there is the potential that this information could well serve his business self-interests," she said.

But Mr Druery strongly denied there was a conflict of interest and said elections were his "part-time hobby".

"What I do in my spare time is of no business to my employer. It's no business of anybody," he said.

"It's up to me what I get up to on weekends or after hours."