A powerful juggernaut of enormous ambition, thought to be unstoppable until striking an unforeseen obstacle.
The words could describe the world's most famous ship, the RMS Titanic. They could equally apply to the political career of larger-than-life Australian billionaire politician Clive Palmer, who once aimed to build a replica of the ill-fated liner.
Often called Australia's Donald Trump, Mr Palmer embodies his home state of Queensland: big, brash, with some rough edges and a disregard for political correctness which endears him to some and sparks disdain from others.
With as much chutzpah as he showed in changing hair colour, he traded business for politics and won a seat in the national parliament in 2013 after forming his own political party, the Palmer United Party (PUP).
Similar to Pauline Hanson's polarising, anti-Asian One Nation party two decades earlier, the PUP promoted itself as an alternative to the established two-party order. It stunned Australians when it gained the balance of power in the nation's upper house, the Senate.
