Mr Wilkie has vowed not to enter into a formal agreement with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten or Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the case of a hung Parliament.

It appears more likely that the Coalition will just scrape a majority in the lower house, or will require the support of one of four key independents.

Dr Brown said by ruling out a deal, Mr Wilkie had chosen the “safe and secure option at the expense of the electorate”.

“The electorate wants you to use power where you have it to make gains,” he said.

“This period before Parliament resumes is a golden opportunity to make gains.”

Dr Brown said Mr Wilkie could have pushed to get $80 million for light rail in Hobart, or to get children out of Nauru. 

“He’s making the false assumption that you'll somehow look better if you stay out of the fray,” he said.

But Mr Wilkie, who once ran for the Greens, said many of his supporters would be “aghast” at the prospect of him propping up a Liberal government. 

“And Dr Brown would also know that the very tight numbers in the new House of Representatives, and the difficulty the government will have passing some legislation, will result in opportunities for Tasmania in the future,” he said.

“A curious dimension of this is that Dr Brown is proposing that I do a deal with Malcolm Turnbull, which is exactly what the Greens have ruled out.

Mr Wilkie said Dr Brown had diminished his own reputation by criticising him for being a “man of his word”.

He said it was not a time for cheap shots, but for honesty and “cool heads”. 

“Dr Brown should leave his campaigning for the Greens until closer to the next election campaign,” Mr Wilkie said.

Mr Wilkie entered an agreement with Labor in 2010 allowing it to form government by asking for poker machine reform, but the deal later fell over.