Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam has given the New Zealand Green Party’s annual conference a grim account of life in his country under Tony Abbott’s government.

“I didn’t come here for sympathy, but things are in a pretty bad way,” Senator Ludlam said.

“Unfortunately, what you’re hearing about Australia in the media is true.”

The Western Australia Greens senator was guest speaker at the conference on Saturday, and was introduced as a hero.

He told 160 delegates the Australian government had cancelled funding for public transport projects, gutted funding for Aboriginal services and abandoned all the progress that had been made to achieve a clean energy economy.

“Immigration policy is toxic,” he said.

“There are huge housing problems in Australia – and the government’s answer to that is to blame families from Sri Lanka.”

Senator Ludlam said the Australian Labor Party was floundering and divided, and he had some advice for his New Zealand brethren: “Try to pick a coalition partner that isn’t entirely dysfunctional.”