Unpredictable is the best word to describe Clive Palmer.
Whether it's building Titanic II, filling a golf resort with dinosaurs, convincing Al Gore to speak at a media conference or giving refinery workers Mercedes Benz cars - the Queensland billionaire is nothing if not surprising.
Melbourne-born Palmer's first fortune came through real estate deals. He "retired" before he was 30, with about $40 million.
But he quickly turned his interest to mining, setting up Mineralogy in 1984 - which was to become his main vehicle for making serious money.
That came largely from his snapping up dirt cheap a Pilbara iron ore tenement after its American owners failed to pay the rent.
Later he sold the mining rights to Chinese steelmaker CITIC Pacific for a $200 million upfront payment plus hefty royalties.
More acquisitions followed, including coal deposits in Queensland's Galilee Basin, a nickel refinery and PNG oil and gas interests.
Palmer bought luxury homes, top-of-the-range cars, an executive jet, a soccer club and most notoriously the Coolum Resort, adding robotic dinosaurs to its world-class golf course.
A member of the Queensland Nationals since the 1970s, he became its most important donor and held senior party positions. He was honoured with life membership.
After the LNP returned to power in Queensland in 2012, however, Palmer fought with key state and federal party figures - which eventually led to his suspension.
The result was the Palmer United Party.
Palmer found candidates to run in all 150 lower house seats as well as the Senate.
He spent a reported $25 million running in the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax, winning by 53 votes.
Three Senate candidates were also elected - rugby league legend Glenn Lazarus in Queensland, Tasmanian former soldier Jacqui Lambie and former Palmer company executive Zhenya (Dio) Wang in Western Australia.
With the election of the Abbott government, Palmer focused on wheeling and dealing in the Senate to head off things he felt were not fair (higher uni fees) while delivering some big wins for the coalition (getting rid of the carbon and mining taxes).
PUP started unravelling almost as quickly as it had come together.
Lambie, abrasively independent, quit first. Lazarus, complaining that Palmer was a bully, went soon afterwards.
With only Wang left in the Senate, PUP's bargaining powers disappeared.
His MPs in Queensland and the Northern Territory also left and none of his candidates in three state elections won a seat.
Much of his time in recent months has been taken up with the fallout from the collapse of Queensland Nickel - which has been devastating for his political reputation - and court action over his WA interests.
In his final speech to parliament he railed against his critics, saying he had done his best to save Queensland Nickel and had only gone into politics as a servant of the public, not a "professional politician".
However in typical Palmer fashion he cryptically added: "I feel with the love and support of my wife Anna I can contribute further to our great country."
Another chapter looms in his unpredictable life.
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