Clive Palmer has accused Jacqui Lambie of lying in the Senate.
In a statement released Wednesday, Mr Palmer said Lambie was “planning to set up an alternate political party” and claimed she hadn’t spoken to him for a month.
He said Lambie had lied in the Senate when speaking about Mr Palmer, in order to "cover up her own misgivings."
“Jacqui Lambie has not brought forward one proposal to the party about Tasmanians, the people who elected her, or about veterans," Mr Palmer said.
“Her statements she has made about me today are false. She originally wrote to the Palmer United Party requesting we endorse her for the Senate.
Earlier today, Senator Lambie used a speech in the Senate to accuse Mr Palmer of smear.
"I understand that he's under pressure because of bad political decisions and legal action that's been taken against him,” she said. “However that doesn’t give him the right to spread hurtful rumours about me in an effort to intimidate or interfere with a free and fair performance of a member of this Senate who represents Tasmania."
Her attack followed comments by Mr Palmer questioning her capacity and accusing her of erratic behaviour.
"I think she's going through some difficult times in her life and that was pretty evident in the Senate yesterday when she spoke about a different bill and had to be brought in line," Mr Palmer told SBS.
He declined to say what he meant by "difficult times".
The public brawling erupted after Senator Lambie shunned Palmer United Party policy by joining Labor, the Greens and several independent senators in moving to disallow the Government’s new Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) laws in the Senate.
Motoring Enthusiasts’ Senator Ricky Muir – normally also in the PUP bloc – joined Senator Lambie, reversing the position both had taken previously.
"I told Clive Palmer I had reservations about what was going on and I had to do what's right by my Tasmanians," Senator Lambie told reporters, earlier.
"And I didn't believe we were doing the right thing. I have to do what's right by my conscience."
No party resignation, yet
Mr Palmer said she had been removed as the party’s Deputy Senate Leader for failing to attend the past three party-room meetings and also suspended from future meetings until she agreed to abide by party rules and stop publicly criticising her colleagues.
But she hadn’t been expelled.
"If you've got a work colleague that's going through difficulties, you don’t want to make their life harder."
He said it was up to her if she wanted to resign.
But the party has removed her from its website and she has erased all reference to the Palmer United Party on hers.
"She hasn’t spoken to me for over a month or the other senators so we've got no idea what's wrong with her," Mr Palmer said.
"I've called her on at least 10 occasions and she hasn't returned any of my calls."
Clive Palmer questioned her commitment to Tasmania.
"As for Tasmania, let me say there hasn't been one occasion in the party room this year where Jacqui has ever raised any issue in relation to Tasmania," he told SBS.
'I will not be told how to vote'
Tonight in her Senate speech on disallowing the FOFA laws, Senator Lambie responded.
"I will not be told how to vote - not by anyone," she said. "My only boss is the people of Tasmania. It is their approval I seek. It is their opinion to me that counts."
Senator Lambie was unrepentant about her increasing independence.
"The first couple of weeks of being up in the Senate were very difficult," she said. "We were all trying to find our way. Well I've found my way now. You know what? Sometimes when you make a wrong, you have to go back in there and make it right. And that's exactly what I'm doing now."
Other independent and minor-party senators are approaching her to discuss working more closely together.
"I indicated we're interested in having a chat and working more closely with her if she's interested in that," Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm said.
"[Family First] Senator Day has said the same thing. I have a suspicion that several other senators have said the same things to her.
"So I don’t think there's any shortage of offers. I don't know where it's going to end up."
Voting down the government
Government senators were furious that Senator Lambie and Senator Muir had changed their position and now intended to vote to disallow the financial advice laws.
"Certain crossbenchers have been seduced to change their vote," Government Senate Leader Eric Abetz said.
He criticised the Opposition for trying to rush the disallowance motion through the Senate today.
"They are scared that the numbers will not stick. In the event that the senators that have changed their mind might change them back again to where they were not once but twice."
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon led the group voting down the Government’s laws, including Labor, the Greens, senators Lambie and Muir and former Democratic Liberal Party turned independent Senator John Madigan.
"This is genuinely a collaborative effort," Senator Xenophon said. "Despite our political differences we have banded together as part of a coalition of common sense."
But Mr Palmer said he believed Senator Xenophon was being politically shrewd.
"It's just been 'Nick, Nick, Nick'," he said. "And of course he's demonstrated that Jacqui Lambie and Ricky Muir are not people that the Government should talk to…. As Nick Xenophon eliminates the reliability of those senators, he enhances his own."
