Former independent MP Rob Oakeshott has panned the federal government's handling of the budget and says he's glad he backed Labor to power in 2010.

On the first anniversary of the Abbott government, Mr Oakeshott told a Brisbane Writers Festival audience he's now seeing what would have happened if he and fellow independents Tony Windsor and Bob Katter had struck a deal with the coalition instead of Labor.

Rob Oakeshott. Credit:James Brickwood

The retired politician said the trio had faced a blunt choice between former prime minister Julia Gillard's "transactional" leadership style versus the "crash or crash through" adversarial style of Tony Abbott following 2010's hung parliament.

"I think it's too early to call on many fronts as to whether it [the coalition] can be a functioning government but I've got to say one year in, and particularly the way the budget process is being handled, I'm very comfortable with the decision I made in 2010," Mr Oakeshott told a sold-out crowd of about 250 people on Sunday.