The elusive senator-elect has declined an invitation from Mr Abbott because, he said, he could not get time off from his job at a sawmill in regional Victoria.

Mr Abbott is taking the lead in negotiating with the group that will hold the balance of power from July 1.

Democratic Labour Party Senator John Madigan met Mr Abbott in the Prime Minister's office in Parliament on Thursday.

Mr Abbott will also talk with NSW senator-elect David Leyonhjelm in Sydney on Friday.

But the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party said Mr Muir, a 32-year-old father of five, had no time to talk until he becomes a full-time politician in July.

''He has to work for a living. He has a mortgage, he has to feed his family. He just can't take time off at the whim of the Prime Minister,'' Keith Littler, the founder of the Motoring Enthusiast Party, said.

''He's a working-class Australian. We all know what that's like - if you don't do your 40 hours a week you can't afford to feed your family.''

As part of the four-member Palmer United bloc vote in the senate Mr Muir is also at loggerheads with the government over Clive Palmer's request for official ''party status'' and the extra financial resources that bestows.

''There was a request to the PM for resources and that was declined and yet the PM expects everyone to be at his beck and call,'' Mr Littler said.

''Mr Abbott has to understand there's a whole other world out there where people have to work for a living. Ricky will be able to come to Canberra when he is being paid to do so.''

On July 1, Mr Muir will swap the $500-a-week basic wage for a timber process worker for the $190,000 salary of a senator.

Mr Palmer, who was seen dining with Liberal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasury boss Martin Parkinson in Canberra on Wednesday night, is still refusing to talk to Mr Abbott over the Coalition's refusal to grant it party status.

''It hasn't happened and it doesn't look like happening,'' a spokesman for Mr Palmer said.

Senator Madigan said he had had a ''broad discussion'' with Mr Abbott in which he outlined a list of budget concerns including health, education and jobs.

''The budget … is not good for families and jobs,'' he said. ''It's one thing to say go and get a degree but there isn't the jobs out there.''

He handed Mr Abbott three pages of questions on the government's approach to the Murray-Darling basin and water for irrigators and confronted him on issues including intellectual property rights and patents.

''We hope we will get some answers for people and then we can make some decisions on the budget,'' he said.

Mr Leyonhjelm, who will represent the Liberal Democratic Party, said he was resolutely opposed to any new taxes, including the deficit levy and a rise in petrol excise.

But he would not comment on what specific concerns he might raise with Mr Abbott. ''We're just going to get to know each other a bit. It is nice thing for the government to be talking to the minor parties as they are doing,'' he said.