Labor must clearly define its distinction from the Australian Greens but a veteran figure of the ruling party said today that ongoing stoush between the federal partners was wholly unnecessary.

According to former Labor frontbencher Laurie Ferguson, putting the Greens into bad light was out of line as he reacted to the snowballing battle pitting key Labor leaders against a party that many believe is exercising too much clout on the policies of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

While he agreed to calls within Labor that the government needs to clarify the extent of its alliance with the Greens, "just to disparage, attack and ridicule them is not the solution."

"Labor has to be seen as running the agenda on a policy front rather than going into personal denigration of the Greens," the long-time Labor MP told ABC on Wednesday.

He was reacting to the worsening rift between Labor and the Greens, which was sparked by urgings from senior Labor figures wanting to revise the automatic preferencing for the party, which has been instrumental in the continued existence of the minority Labor government.

The move triggered a wave of criticisms from prominent Labor members that led to assumptions of the ruling party actually condoning a concerted effort to undermine its minority partner.

But Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan flatly denied that Labor is consciously attacking its ally in the government, pointing out that "I wouldn't say there is a concerted attack."

He admitted, however, that the Greens was partly causing differences with the government in shaping up a unified policy.

"On some policies they are extreme, just like the Liberals," Mr Swan told ABC in an interview yesterday.

Another government partner, independent MP Rob Oakeshott, appealed on the two parties to "sort out their disagreement, and sort it out quickly ... in the interests of a forward legislative agenda for Australia."

In a statement, Mr Oakeshott said that he remains committed in supporting the Labor-led government "despite the current disagreement between the two political parties on preferences."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott called the escalating disagreement as sort of a 'civil war' between Labor and the Greens, with Ms Gillard inevitably being caught in the crossfire.

"Every single Labor member of Parliament ... who is coming out now and attacking the Greens is effectively attacking the Prime Minister," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne today.

In his view, the whole issue is about the dysfunctional Labor "that no longer knows what it stands for, no longer knows who it represents and no longer knows what it believes in."

In short, the problem is with the government and not with the Greens at all, the Liberal leader stressed.

"This is a Labor party which is being lead by a Prime Minister who is effectively just implementing Greens policies," Mr Abbott was quoted by The Australian as saying on Wednesday.

Amidst the trouble embroiling it alliance with Labor, Greens leader Christine Milne gave her assurance that what have been said so far will not induce her to abruptly end the agreement that the Greens have struck with Ms Gillard following the 2010 election.

The Greens warned though that revising the original preferencing deal would only lead to the quick ascent of Mr Abbott as the next Prime Minister come the national electoral contest next year.