Disgraced Queensland MP Billy Gordon's vote will be critical to the state's minority government, meaning the political circus surrounding him isn't likely to let up anytime soon.
The opposition on Tuesday night tried to change the parliament's voting rules, which would have meant crossbench MPs would vote before government and opposition MPs.
The major parties would have been able to see how the now Independent Mr Gordon voted and send one of their own out of the chamber if he supported them, effectively nullifying his vote.
However, the motion was rejected 46 to 42, with Mr Gordon and Katter's Australian Party siding with Labor, who described the vote as a political ploy.
It means Labor's minority government is stabilised with the support of Mr Gordon, who has indicated he would mainly side with his former party.
Mr Gordon made a brief personal explanation to the House on Tuesday morning, saying he didn't intentionally mean to mislead parliament when he claimed he had paid back all the child support he owed to an ex-partner.
The Cook MP was forced out of the Labor party in March over allegations of domestic abuse, unpaid child support and tax avoidance and his failure to declare undisclosed criminal convictions to the party.
Around that time, Mr Gordon told parliament he had rectified his tax situation and had caught up in his child support payments.
But Mr Gordon on Tuesday conceded he still unwittingly owed $24.13 to his ex-partner Kristy Peckham.
"I didn't knowingly mislead the parliament when I stated that outstanding amounts had been paid to Kristy," Mr Gordon said.
"My answer was truthfully based on the information I had to hand."
He then tried to use his explanation to launch an attack on the media.
"I entered parliament with my eyes wide open knowing it could be a rough business," Mr Gordon said. "What I didn't expect in my first month in this parliament was to feel the ugly force of unethical agenda-ridden media, driven by the ambitions of some..."
Speaker Peter Wellington then stopped Mr Gordon, saying he couldn't use his speech to hit out at others, but he might have a chance to do so later.
But Mr Gordon didn't say anything else in parliament and he avoided media outside the chamber.
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg criticised Mr Gordon for not being completely up front during his first explanation.
He also hit out at the government, accusing it of not wanting to change the voting rules so it could cling to power using Mr Gordon's "tainted" vote.
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