Australia

Excellent, pithy article by Lenore Taylor in The Guardian:

"Tuesday’s circus involved the highly-contested future of financial advice (Fofa) reforms, which the government is seeking to weaken

A month ago Palmer sounded as though he was definitely opposed to the government’s changes. “What sort of an idiot tries to take away from Australians their normal rights to a fair go?” he said. “We’ll get rid of (the Fofa amendments). The men and women of Australia – the pensioners and working classes – should be allowed to rely on the advice they’re given.

On Tuesday his senators voted against disallowance of the changes, after the government agreed to introduce a series of minor amendments that the financial industry insists make no difference to what the government is doing or to consumer protections, but which add considerably to paperwork.

Palmer and his senators took this decision, he boasts, without any discussions with the relevant industry, because billionaires don’t need any advising."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/15/the-palmer-pattern-cause-maximum-drama-then-support-government

"Billionaires don't need any advising". In a nutshell. Palmer's attitude to everything and everyone - he doesn't need to play by any rules, because he's rich enough to make his own rules.

And yes, he'll always come down on the side of the Tories, because it's in his DNA. He only left the Libs because Abbott and Newman wouldn't let him run the show. Now he's running it from the sidelines.

God help Australia.