Senator elect Ricky Muir will make his own voting decisions and will work with any political party that “shares his values” his Motoring Enthusiast party says, deliberately distancing itself from the Palmer United party within weeks of the start of the new Senate.

And Motoring Enthusiast party founder and soon-to-be adviser to Muir, Keith Littler, insists Muir has not decided how he will vote on the mining and carbon tax repeals.



Littler also says the $10bn Clean Energy Finance Corporation – which the government is seeking to abolish – “appears to be a good thing … but we need to see more detail.”



Palmer has said his senators will vote for the carbon tax repeal, providing lower power prices are passed on to households, and also for the mining tax repeal, so long as the government retaines a payment for the orphaned children of soldiers.



The government, which needs six of the eight crossbench senators to pass legislation after July 1, had assumed that meant it could bank on four votes from the Palmer United party “bloc”, including Muir, as well as the votes of Liberal Democrat David Leyonhelm and Family First Bob Day to repeal the carbon and mining taxes.



Palmer has said his three senators and Muir – with whom he signed a memorandum of understanding last year – would be “one team of people working together”, and it has been widely assumed the four senators would for the most part vote together.



But according to Littler this is not the case.



“Everyone seems to have presumed that we are part of the Palmer United party or that we will vote with them all of the time. That is just not the case. We are autonomous. We will work with any political party that shares our values,” Littler said.



“How Clive Palmer tries to present us is his business, but we are not part of PUP and we never have been. We have a good relationship with them. But the fact the media might have accepted the idea we are effectively part of PUP is incorrect.”

Muir is “not available” for Palmer’s “festival” at his dinosaur-themed resort the weekend before the new Senate formally begins and his party is understood to be conducting its own preliminary conversations with the government, although Littler said formal talks would have to wait until July.



Littler said Muir – who recently gave a stumbling interview on Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program – would not be giving any more media interviews until he took up his new job on July 1.



Asked to describe how Muir would approach his work, Littler said: “Basically Ricky is a working class guy and he is not interested in any legislation that hurts working class people.”



Littler and Muir both joined Palmer United senators on a recent PUP-funded tour to the US.



Muir’s other political adviser – preference deal-maker Glenn Druery – said Muir and PUP “will work together when they can”.



“An alliance does exist,” he said. “It means Ricky and PUP will vote together where possible, which may be often, but that does not preclude Ricky working with other crossbenchers from time to time.”



As revealed by Guardian Australia Abbott began a round of “meet and greet” meetings with the new Senate crossbenchers last month, but not with PUP or Muir, who were unavailable.



The new Senate is looming as a major challenge for the Abbott government with Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United party indicating they will oppose changes to the pension, some changes to family payments, the new Medicare co-payment and changes to unemployment payments for young people.

