Palmer puts money where his mouth is with almost $5m funding
Electoral Commission disclosures reveal Clive Palmerās United Australia Party has āraisedā more than the major parties.
After a weekend spending spree by Palmerās private company Mineralogy, in which amounts of up to $13,705 have been distributed to the UAP candidates, the total amount to have shifted from his business to his politics rose to $4,684,124.
The party itself has āraisedā more ā $3,872,035 ā over the past 75 days than the Liberal National Party ($3,121,438) and Labor ($1,460,419). Even the entire right of the political spectrum combined has not generated that much cash.
This is despite Palmer facing claims he is a developer and therefore prohibited from donating ā something he denies ā as well as complaints about the truthfulness of UAPās anti-Labor death tax disinformation campaign.
Much of UAPās advertising spend has gone to newspapers, and again today Rupert Murdochās The Courier-Mail ran two full-page ads associating Labor with various taxes. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and other Labor figures have strongly denied any suggestion they are planning a death tax after similar claims dogged a previous federal Labor campaign.
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Labor, in response, has warned that Palmerās money is being used to prop up the Liberal National Party campaign, something leader Deb Frecklington has denied. Labor continues to make the link on social media.
UAP has 53 candidates running for election, a rag-tag bunch of Palmerās employees, family members and acquaintances, led by his wife Anna Palmer. Palmer himself is chairman but not personally contesting a seat.
The party already has enough cash to meet the threshold for party-specific campaigning, but if Palmer keeps distributing money to candidates he could still pump another $3 million or so into the campaign.
The Labor government introduced caps on campaign expenditure but delayed donation limits and public funding.
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