These men have the final say on what laws get through

The "new paradigm" of democracy promised by the independents who now hold the balance of power has us debating far more important things these days:

PARLIAMENT'S three amigos are no more, after Bob Katter accused one of his fellow rural independents of undermining him and the other "went his own way"…

"The independents' movement in Australia has failed, failed miserably," Mr Katter told The Australian, lifting the lid on infighting between the key crossbenchers.

For a time, feelings were so raw for the maverick Queensland MP that he refused to attend policy or legislative briefings by the government or opposition with Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, his former amigos. This has compounded the difficulty of managing the knife-edge numbers in parliament for both major parties…

Mr Katter, 65, particularly resented a tongue-in-cheek remark by Mr Windsor that he kept toilet paper in his work satchel. Separately, he concluded that Mr Windsor was behind an editorial in his local newspaper, Tamworth's Northern Daily Leader, that was critical of Mr Katter's refusal to participate in a fly-on-the-wall documentary on the trio by ABC television's Four Corners program after the election. Mr Windsor denies this.