By David Forman

Photo: Clive Palmer has a proven ability to "feed the chooks". (Getty Images: Stefan Postles)

In limiting Clive Palmer's ability to speak in Parliament, Tony Abbott would be giving his conservative nemesis more power where he likes it - in front of the camera, writes David Forman.

Sweeping away the House of Representative standing orders which give voice to non-government MPs might be irresistible for Tony Abbott, but it might also prove to be one of his biggest mistakes.

The rules - including setting aside time for independents to bring issues into Parliament and assigning them the opportunity to introduce and debate Private Members' Bills - were introduced only because the 2010 election gave Australia a minority government for the first time in a generation.

It was a price extracted from both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott in the negotiations cannily led by Tony Windsor, an experienced legislator who well understood how to leverage such rules on the floor of the Parliament.

They never sat easily with the major parties, used as they were to calling the shots however they liked in the House.

The new changes seek to revoke that power by cutting private members' time in half and removing non-aligned members from the selection committee, effectively giving the Government complete control over the parliamentary agenda. The Greens are sure to voice concerns.

In the new Parliament, it is not in the chamber where the most important independent exercises his greatest skills; it is in front of the camera lens.

And Tony Abbott's decision to take away the opportunity to speak in the Parliament might prove not a handicap to Clive Palmer, but rather the gift that keeps on giving.

In his address this week to the National Press Club, the former media adviser to Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen showed he could "feed the chooks" as effortlessly as his one time mentor, turning accusations and pointed questions back on his interlocutors or his other preferred targets at will.

A key part of Palmer's schtick as the emerging new national political force is that Labor and the LNP equally are afraid to be challenged by fresh thinking or movements they do not control.

Rather, they run from scrutiny.

It is difficult to imagine Palmer patiently sitting through hours of parliamentary process waiting for his chance to ask a two minute question.

It is easy to imagine him spending the next three years constantly peppering his media appearances with reminders of how the Abbott Government, in its first week, changed the rules to avoid scrutiny from Palmer himself. It will provide him with a ready-made riposte whenever he is asked about his own dealings and activities.

Palmer is the X factor in this Parliament because, if he chooses to, he will represent a second opposition leader to Abbott, and one who is in many ways in Abbott's own image.

Abbott's great skills as opposition leader were his ability to turn a phrase and, in the eyes of the Labor government, to maintain internally conflicting policy messages without batting an eye.

Ultimately, the previous government was frustrated to death by Abbott's skilful sniping and evasion.

Palmer has demonstrated similarly powerful and colourful messaging and the ability to refuse to engage in a debate about his own words and actions in the terms his opponents want to dictate.

The first group to find themselves drawn on to Palmer's preferred grounds of debate was the Press Gallery, members of which were obsessed with trying to trip up Palmer at his Press Club appearance, only to have Palmer dance around them with an ease belying his physical size.

In their frustration, the media missed what might be the most important question to understand how Palmer will influence politics for the next three years - namely, how his party room will operate.

Will senators representing his eponymous party operate like Palmer employees, with Clive himself calling the shots on all policy positions?

Or will senators be assigned the responsibility and authority to become expert in various policy areas, and be empowered to tell Clive what position the party should take on measures that come before the Parliament?

If it is the former, there has to be a very big question mark about the longevity of the party. If the latter, Clive might find the biggest challenge to his preferred style comes not from the media, the LNP or Labor, but from his own creation.

David Forman is managing director of government relations at issues management firm Communications and Public Relations. View his full profile here.

Less power on the floor, more power off it - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)