Controversial Queensland MP Bob Katter hopes he won't be sitting alone in federal parliament after the election.
His fledgling Katter's Australian Party is contesting seats around the country, based on his unique political brand.
A powerbroker after the last election, Stefan Armbruster joined him in Mount Isa as he prepares for what he hopes will be an even bigger role.
Queensland's maverick MP with the big Akubra hat and even bigger personality is back in his Kennedy electorate in the state's north.
He's taking a brief break from the national election campaign - and he's singing.
"To a station out in Queensland, I won't mention names or brands, came the Cunnamulla fella... "
Bob Katter is on a mission to make his fledgling Katter's Australian Party a political force in Canberra.
His promises are usually left unmatched by the major parties.
"Y'know, just give me the power and I'll give you ethanol to fill your motor cars up for 74 cents a litre, just as I did in Brazil, for 84 cents a litre in the United States, 140 cents a litre when I got back here to Australia."
Bob Katter is in Mount Isa, sharing his big hat around for photo opportunities with admirers.
Reporter: "Why did you want to get a photo with him?"
Katter fan: "Because I think he's wonderful, he's a real country fellow, seems to be interested north Queensland, western Queensland. Yeah. I dunno."
It's low-cost campaign, relying on force of personality and a Christian prayer or two.
Bob's son Robbie is a third-generation Katter politician in the Queensland parliament and is the party's federal president.
"I'd say it's fun. This is when he comes to life - he loves the campaign because he's out amongst the people, it's probably the happiest I see him."
Reporter: "What's your dad's greatest weakness as a leader?"
"Organisational habits. Some people work from different sides of the brain and Dad likes reading books - details like time schedules is for other people to work out."
His team includes new campaign manager Jason Keily, who usually works as a mining engineer.
Reporter: "Jason, where's Bob gone?"
Keily: "I don't know, I've lost him."
Reporter: "It this a common occurrence, that Bob just disappears?"
Keily: "It's my first Bob disappearance experience, so I couldn't tell you." (he laughs)
The veteran politician is often unpredictable but one thing that's almost certain is he will be re-elected.
Bob Katter has held this seat for 20 years, currently with a margin of more than 18 per cent - not ahead of Labor, but the Liberal National Party.
Kennedy stretches from Queensland's east coast all the way to the Northern Territory border, one of Australia's biggest electorates.
His family roots in the region stretch back into the 1870s, with a mixed heritage including Lebanese and possibly Aboriginal.
"We're the Cloncurry mob, we refer to ourselves as the Curry mob, bits and pieces of everything, we identify as a dozen different racial backgrounds."
Unlike his electorate, Katter has no great love for Canberra.
He split from the National Party 12 years ago in a disagreement over free market economics.
There is no admiration for - or from - his fellow MPs, who ridicule his policies but court him for vital preferences.
"I mean I've got friends there, that I've got on well with. I've always got on well with Tony Abbott. The Prime Minister describes me as a good friend, that's probably an accurate assessment. They're blokes I Iike and get on well with. I don't mean disrespect to any of them but the word admire isn't a word I'd use to describe any of the people in the parliament." 0
We're at the Mount Isa Mayor's seniors' morning tea, and time for some more photos with That Hat.
Bob Katter is admired for taking rural issues up to the government, warning Australia faces destruction by free market forces.
Mount Isa's Mayor is Tony McGrady, a Labor politician who has known Bob Katter for many years.
"Look I think you get a handful of politicians who can strut the national stage and get publicity, and Bob is one of those people. I think most people know the name but some people have doubts about whether or not he actually achieves."
His policies include repealing any tax on carbon, making ethanol mandatory, relaxing gun laws, restoring live cattle exports to Indonesia and breaking down the supermarket duopoly.
"Mining has no hope of surviving in Australia, quarrying will and we'll still quarry coal and iron ore, but mining where you dig it out of the ground and sell it overseas as a metal, no we can't afford to process the metals in Australia."
He is against large-scale migration and has a tough stance on asylum-seekers.
"If you say to me they're refugees, that's really rubbish, complete and utter rubbish. A refugee is a person who flees for his life across the border, that is a refugee. So [these] are not fleeing from, they're going to - [that's] one hell of a big difference."
Aboriginal and Torres Strait island affairs are close to his heart.
He wants the Northern Territory Intervention to end, saying after a decade it has failed, and wants Aboriginal land converted to freehold title.
"I mean the people just hate the politicians, and who can blame them? They've been lied to and lied to. We will give them title deeds, so at least they, like everyone else on earth, can say, 'This is my land'."
Controversial one-liners, like the one on his opposition to same-sex marriage, have often overshadowed his broader agenda.
"Every second I spend on that is a second I take away from real issues. You people in the media seem preoccupied with it - well, you spend your time on it, I'm not spending any of my time on it."
In his electorate, he's on safe ground.
The hung parliament after the last election made Bob Katter a power-broker with a national profile.
This election will test if the party bearing his name will appeal to the wider electorate.
"One of my most trenchant opponents described me as the most devious, effective and dangerous politicians in the country. I don't think it was meant as a compliment. I really couldn't care less, I am who I am. People call me a country hick, a boofhead, I don't deny that. I would think that's an accurate description, in my opinion. Umm ... ummm ..."
