Her comments suggest that Mr Katter might not be as spooked by the prospect of a Labor-Greens alliance as the Coalition has been saying he and the other country independents should be.

"I certainly share his concerns on biosecurity and quarantine," Senator Milne told The Australian Financial Review. "This whole issue of the duopoly of Coles and Woolworths and the failure to reinstate anti-price discrimination into the Trade Practices Act are things I have been worried about for a long time and things he's worried about as well."

Another point of common ground between the Greens and Mr Katter is their joint call for a register of foreign ownership of farmland, which was one of the 20 demands he put to both parties last week.

And while Senator Milne said she was not advocating a return to protectionism, her rhetoric on the limits of free trade was similar to Mr Katter's.

Senator Milne also moved to dispel farmers' concerns that the party could seek to act on its policy of introducing an estate tax, or death duties. This was not a priority and was something the parliamentary party would not support.