A day after declaring he would be a full-time politician, businessman Clive Palmer did not take part in the first eight votes of the new parliament.
Federal parliament held its first full business day under new Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday, when the government introduced laws to scrap the carbon and mining taxes.
Mr Palmer's Palmer United Party (PUP) had campaigned to remove the carbon tax and repay carbon tax payments from big polluting companies for their first year of liabilities.
"I'll be abstaining from voting on the carbon tax and the mining tax repeal bills, and the reason I wasn't in parliament this morning was that they were introduced," Mr Palmer told reporters in Canberra.
"I don't think I need to abstain. However, I don't want to have a perception from anybody that I'm acting in the wrong way."
Mr Palmer's company Queensland Nickel is refusing to pay a $6.2 million carbon tax bill and is challenging the tax in the courts.
The first votes of the new parliament were procedural, after Labor attempted to force Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to explain reports that the government is negotiating a new people-swap deal with Indonesia. Labor also moved a motion of dissent in new Speaker Bronwyn Bishop.
The government won all the divisions.
Mr Palmer said he did not take part in those votes because they were part of the same session as the carbon tax and mining tax repeal bills.
"I didn't want to have my presence in the chamber affecting how another member may vote," he said, adding those were the rules under corporations law for company directors.
Mr Palmer, however, did attend the first question time of the new parliament.
The PUP could control four votes in the new Senate from July 1, 2014, giving the party a key role in deciding whether the government can pass its legislation.
Mr Palmer said he would not tell PUP senators how to vote.
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