Clive Palmer says his outspoken Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie doesn't have to kowtow to him.
Senator Lambie has described the Palmer United Party leader as someone who needs to clown around less "because that really annoys me", adding she should not have to back down to Mr Palmer.
But Mr Palmer said Senator Lambie was her own person.
"She certainly doesn't have to kowtow to me, she's elected by the Australian people," he told reporters in Brisbane on Friday.
"And in our party room, it's done by voting.
"It's not done by my view or Jacqui's view, it's done by a consensus."
The Fairfax MP also addressed Senator Lambie's opinion about his personality in her profile on the ABC's Australian Story.
"Everyone finds me annoying, especially my wife," he said.
"My wife says she married me but not for lunch, which I can understand."
As Mr Palmer was being asked about Islamic State jihadists beheading American journalists in Iraq, media personality Greig Pickhaver, also known as HG Nelson, gatecrashed it holding a packet of chocolate biscuits.
Afterwards, Mr Palmer declined to say if he supported Australian involvement in Iraq.
"I don't comment on anything as a principle about defence or foreign affairs until I've got the facts," he said.
Share
