Federal Election 2022: Why Clive Palmer has deserted the Coalition

Clive Palmer has revealed why he has walked away from helping the Coalition alongside Pauline Hanson, Bob Katter and Campbell Newman in a Sky News debate.

Clive Palmer’s cashed up United Australia Party won’t be helping the federal government this election because of the Coalition’s decision to adopt net zero climate targets.

Mr Palmer’s comments came during an animated Sky News’ forum featuring three other controversial Queensland politicians — One Nation’s Pauline Hanson, Kennedy MP Bob Katter and Senate hopeful and former premier Campbell Newman.

The mining magnate also used the “Mavericks” edition of the Paul Murray Live program broadcast from the Gold Coast to describe the Chinese government’s politicians as “weak”.

Mr Palmer, who has famously sued multiple people including the Western Australian Premier for defamation, also said people saying nasty things about him was “water off a duck’s back”.

All four politicians, taking live questions from the public, were asked to detail how they would be asking voters to direct their preferences at the coming election with Mr Katter confirming he would be sticking to Katter’s Australian Party’s split ticket system.

Paul Murray Live Pub Test: The Mavericks with Clive Palmer. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

Senator Hanson said the party was adopting an “education” approach — where voters know best and told to make their own decisions.

Mr Palmer, leading the UAP’s Queensland Senate ticket, said the LNP would not feature on the party’s upper house how to vote cards because the Coalition had “backflipped” on the climate and now supported net zero emissions by 2050.

It was a sentiment shared by Liberal Democrat’s Queensland Senate lead Campbell Newman.

Mr Palmer also signalled MPs who supported UAP’s Craig Kelly may be bumped up the party’s how to vote cards in the lower house.

But he ultimately left the door open to where the UAP’s preferences would fall in the lower house.

The United Australia Party’s spending power was a significant factor in helping Prime Minister Scott Morrison win the 2019 election, according to federal Labor’s review of the campaign.

Paul Murray Live Pub Test: Bob Katter and Campbell Newman on the Gold Coast. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

Queensland’s four most controversial politicians were also asked what the “biggest lie” anyone on the panel had said to them.

Mr Palmer declined to get personal, saying what they each stood for and their policies was “more important”.

Liberal Democrats Senate leader and former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said Mr Palmer had criticised him plenty but it was all water under the bridge.

The pair famously had a falling out when the LNP was last in state government.

It included Mr Palmer once describing Mr Newman as a “Nazi”, a “criminal” and “less popular than Hitler”.

Paul Murray Live Pub Test: The Mavericks with Pauline Hanson. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

The four controversial politicians were largely collegiate throughout the hour-long debate, though Senator Hanson did question the legitimacy of the United Australia Party’s promise of “freezing interest rates at 3 per cent”, saying it couldn’t happen and simply wasn’t true.

Clive Palmer’s UAP has been pushing a promise to freeze interest rates at 3 per cent should the party come into power or hold the balance of power to “protect 6 million Australia homes and defend the prosperity and freedom of all Australian families and the independence of our country”.

Paul Murray Live Pub Test: The Mavericks with Pauline Hanson, Clive Palmer, Bob Katter and Campbell Newman on the Gold Coast. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

But it is unclear how the party thinks the government can force private banks to make this happen.

Mr Palmer, on the Sky News public forum, said this was within the federal government’s powers under “Section 51 (subsection) 13” of the Australian constitution.

Senator Hanson signalled the mining magnate had misinterpreted law and the federal government could not pass legislation to force banks to lower interest rates.

The Sky News’ program with four of Queensland’s most controversial politicians comes as the latest Newspoll showed 29 per cent of voters would be supporting an independent or minor party instead of Labor or the LNP.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, asked about the poll results while on the hustings in Perth, “ruled out” any deals with independents and warned a “vote for an independent is a vote for chaos in the parliament”.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, campaigning in Brisbane on Tuesday, said he would convince voters back to the major parties by continuing to “put forward our agenda for a positive agenda”.