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Palmer United senator Glenn Lazarus has launched an extraordinary attack on the federal government saying its management of the crossbench is "dysfunctional" and a mess.
Senator Lazarus issued a blistering statement on Thursday complaining that his requests to know what legislation the Senate would be debating next week remained unaddressed.
"The Abbott government is so dysfunctional and in such a mess that the Senate program has not yet been finalised or released," Senator Lazarus said on Thursday.
"The Abbott government needs to get itself sorted out and start operating properly. The dysfunction is causing chaos everywhere," he added.
The government's Senate leader Eric Abetz said the schedule was typically issued on Thursday afternoon but promised to take Senator Lazurus' feedback on board.
"The draft Senate program is traditionally issued on the Thursday afternoon before each sitting week. Apart from that, my office has frequent contact, staff to staff, with all the crossbench offices, including Senator Lazarus's," he said.
"We always take on board suggestions for improving the flow of information, and will continue to do so."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously vowed to treat the crossbench better.
"I know that we've struggled in the Senate, you know that we've struggled in Senate and obviously there are lessons in that for us, too," he told the National Press Club earlier this month.
"We do have to make a bigger effort with anything that does need to go before the Senate."
Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjlem said he shared some of Senator Lazarus' frustrations.
"My impression is that they are still deciding on their priorities and we, the crossbench, told when they know," he told Fairfax Media.
"I haven't noticed any significant change," he said, and added that it would be helpful to have the full list of bills up for a vote or debate a week in advance.
A spokesman for independent senator Jacqui Lambie's office said it had recently experienced new co-operation with the Prime Minister's office but prior to this week shared the frustrations expressed by Senator Lazarus.
Senator John Madigan's office said they had also seen recent signs of improvement in the way the government was dealing with the crossbench.
A spokesman for Family First senator Bob Day said they had no complaints about the government's handling of Senate programs.
Other crossbench senators have been contacted for comment.
