The novice leadership team of the Greens has made a potentially damaging tactical blunder after party members "bombarded" crossbench senators with phone calls urging them to oppose the Abbott government's legal attack on environment groups.
Senator Jacqui Lambie claims her office was "sabotaged" at the instruction of Greens leader Richard Di Natale, while Senator John Madigan is so infuriated with the "tsunami of calls" he received he will investigate whether telephone harassment by a rival political party constitutes contempt of the Senate.
On Wednesday last week, Senator Madigan's staff were forced to redirect all calls to his Victorian electorate office after the Parliament office was deluged by Greens rank and file. His office stopped logging calls after 300 were received.
Senator Ricky Muir's staff received at least 200 before diverting calls – including critical communication with Coalition ministers – to an answering service.
A spokesman for Senator Lambie even claimed "veterans' lives could have been lost" when her office was forced to switch off the phones last Wednesday. The Tasmanian senator has been a "first port of call" for suicidal ex-serviceman, he said.
Greens members went on the warpath after receiving an email from deputy leader Larissa Waters, headed "hands off our enviro laws". It listed key points to raise with crossbenchers considering backing the government's bid to block legal avenues for environment groups to impede mining developments through the courts.
Senator Waters included direct phone numbers and urged supporters to warn the government's plan "sets a dangerous precedent … [to] start responding to judicial decisions they don't like by changing the law".
She asked members to "make sure you are always polite" but what angered Senator Madigan the most was the inclusion of an email link for members to report back directly to Mr Di Natale with details of the names of crossbench staffers and any intelligence they had gathered on which way a senator might vote on the government's proposed changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
"I am writing to Senator Di Natalie to request that he share with me the information about my office and my staff he has covertly collected," Senator Madigan said.
"And I am investigating whether this is a breach of parliamentary privilege. The actions by Greens senators severely disrupted the work of crossbench senators and their offices last week. In the past, telephone harassment of a senator has constituted contempt of the Senate."
Senator Muir said: "Imagine the reaction of the Greens if the Attorney-General [George Brandis] directed the Minerals Councils and other supporters of mining to bombard my office and report back on how we responded?"
He said the Greens' tactics had done the party's negotiating position with him "no favours".
A spokesman for Senator Di Natale said: "The crossbenchers are critical to whether the Abbott government succeeds in scrapping laws which protect our environment. It's not surprising that the public, our supporters among them, are concerned about where each senator stands on the issue.
"Part of being an elected representative is listening to all views within in the community and our offices receive similar calls when we are in the balance of power on any issue."
Crossbench support has been integral to blocking some of the Abbott government's more radical proposals, including the Medicare co-payment, university reforms, welfare changes and, most recently, the resurrection of the building industry watchdog.
