Crossbench senators who would be wiped out under proposed new Senate voting rules are demanding the major parties reveal their plans and some are threatening to withdraw all cooperation with the government if it proceeds with the idea.



The so-called “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery is advising some of the crossbenchers he helped get elected about the impact of the voting changes endorsed by the Coalition, Labor and the Greens in a recent Senate report.

Senators Ricky Muir, Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus, David Leyonhjelm, Bob Day and Dio Wang are preparing a co-signed letter to the major parties demanding they “drop the pretence” and reveal their intentions.

The issue has taken on new urgency as more party strategists reach the conclusion that the government is trying to create an option to call an early election, and as talks continue on the voting issue between the government, Labor and the Greens.

As Guardian Australia revealed in March, Abbott government ministers have started private informal consultations about highly sensitive changes to the Senate voting system aimed at reducing the chances that micro-parties can be elected in future Senate elections on a tiny proportion of the vote after elaborate preference deals.

The Labor party is deeply divided on the plan and is quickly backing away from its support for a joint parliamentary inquiry which recommended the reforms. The Greens remain onside but say they would consider other options.

Leyonhjelm said the crossbench was waiting for the government to try to legislate the new laws. “If we see the government proceeding with laws to make it impossible for us to win any more seats then all cooperation is likely to cease,” the Liberal Democrat senator said.

Labor factional leaders including the shadow minister and Victorian senator Stephen Conroy and the New South Wales senator Sam Dastyari are opposed to change on the grounds it would “entrench” Coalition control of the Senate.

At a briefing on Wednesday with the six crossbench senators, Druery made the same claim.

Others, including the opposition resources spokesman, Gary Gray, who signed off the parliamentary report, continue to back its proposals, which include optional preferential voting for the Senate, as well as abolishing the group ticket votes that permit parties to control preferences and tightening party registration procedures.

Gray spoke about the changes in parliament on Monday.

“It would be a travesty for Australian democracy if these careful and thought-through reforms were not in place in time for the next federal election. These reforms will significantly strengthen our democratic process by reducing the capacity for manipulation and increasing transparency in our electoral system, which, despite these concerns, still remains among the most stable and effective in the world,” he said.

Supporters of the change point to calculations by the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green that had the optional preferential system been in place in 2013 both Labor and the Greens would have benefited.

Tony Abbott has not ruled out an early election but said he had “no plans” to call one, despite the 2015 budget’s generous “pre-election” feel.

Asked on Wednesday when he would call the next election he said: “About the middle of next year ... which is about three years. This government always planned to run full term. That is what the people of Australia elected us to do: to govern the country as best we could, to deliver on our commitments as best we could, for a full three years.”

Joe Hockey also hosed down the speculation, insisting government was hard won and not “given up” easily. Senior Liberal sources believe the Coalition’s political recovery can follow only a recovery in the economy – which suggests the budget’s small-business stimulus plan will be given time to work before an early double dissolution election is contemplated.

Voting reform is considered a likely precursor to calling any election, after the government struggled with the disparate crossbench during this parliament. A double dissolution halves the quota required to get a senator elected and therefore makes it more likely senators could be elected on very small votes, under the current rules. A normal half-Senate election would mean that six of the current eight crossbench senators were not facing the electorate and they would probably continue to hold balance-of-power votes for another three years.

The crossbench backlash against the changes mean they would be unlikely to be brought forward until an election was under consideration.

The new Greens leader, Senator Richard Di Natale, said the present system was not democratic.

He said the Greens were “favourably disposed” to the recommendations of the parliamentary report but would “consider other options” including a system being discussed by some in the Labor party for a minimum vote threshold for a party to get elected.

Leyonhjelm said that if the government passed voting reforms with the votes of the Greens, “We’d make sure to let Coalition voters know about that and we won’t think they’d like it.”