Beware of Clive Palmer’s promises

Scratch beneath the surface of Clive Palmer’s policy and it doesn’t take long to see his promises need proper scrutiny.

FOR nearly a year now we’ve had Clive Palmer in our ears promising Townsville the world.

He’s been on billboards, YouTube, television, in our letterboxes, at our sports clubs and in our newspapers.

At first it was all about reopening the mothballed refinery at Yabulu, his gripes with the QNI creditors and the State Government.

With every cheque presentation and advertisement, he won over a few locals who were keen to see Queensland’s richest man get a fair go, despite knowing his former company still owed a small fortune to workers.

Then he announced he would build Titanic II and hosted a bizarre free gala dinner just weeks after the Townsville floods. The key movers and shakers in town avoided the event but you can’t blame those whose interest or appetite was piqued.

We always knew the piece de resistance was to come. Mr Palmer had told the Bulletin of his plans to run in the federal election for the seat of Herbert.

He has instead decided to run for the Senate and to put former footballer Greg Dowling into the North Queensland race.

The polling shows his strategy — including a $30 million advertising splurge and a promise to pay back his worker entitlements — is getting through.

The most recent Newspoll showed Mr Palmer was attracting 14 per cent of the primary vote in Herbert which is a remarkable result for a man who was blamed up until a year ago for being partially responsible for the city’s crippling economic downturn.

What is clear is that people are sick to death of the two major parties. But scratch beneath the surface of Mr Palmer’s policy as we do on page three today and it doesn’t take long to see his promises need proper scrutiny.

Beware his sheen and his stunts and ask the good people of Fairfax on the Sunshine Coast what kind of politician he made the last time voters tried to prove a point by voting him in.

Originally published as Beware of Clive Palmer’s promises