Senator Brian Burston quits One Nation’s Pauline Hanson to aid Clive Palmer’s political comeback

CLIVE Palmer has taken a swipe at Australian journalists after he announced ex-One Nation senator Brian Burston as the first recruit for his new political party.

CLIVE Palmer has announced ex-One Nation senator Brian Burston as the first recruit for his rebranded political party in a bizarre press conference in Canberra.

The billionaire confirmed he was also likely to run for a lower house seat at the next federal election during the fiery press conference where he lashed out at reporters asking about civil and court action against him, and the collapse of the Queensland Nickel refinery.

“Why don’t you be a reporter and report what is happening instead of thinking you are the editorial,” Mr Palmer told one reporter.

“You have a job as a journalist to let people know what is happening and report on things, but you don’t.”

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Clive Palmer at his press conference today. Picture: Supplied

Mr Palmer, who has erected “Make Australia Great” billboards across the country as part of his run for politics, also declared: “I don’t owe anyone anything in North Queensland”.

His recruitment of Senator Burston, who officially quit Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party just an hour before the press conference, will give Mr Palmer an immediate voice in parliament as he makes a fresh run for federal politics.

Mr Palmer praised the Senator’s “courage” and foresight to stand up for the people who elected him, saying: “I look forward to a long and happy relationship with him.”

Senator Burston said he quit One Nation after Senator Hanson chose to renege on supporting the government’s company tax cuts and demoted him from a senior role in the party.

He denied he had misled the senate this morning by declaring he would sit as an independent and announcing his affiliation with Palmer’s United Australia Party only an hour later.

“I resigned because Pauline Hanson insisted that I renege on that deal and I would not do so,” he told reporters.

“She went on Sky News to denigrate me in a big way to say that I had done nothing in the Senate and demoted me from the whip position which I was unhappy about.

“I am happy to join the United Australia Party. We will unite Australia and we will bring integrity back into the Senate and provide policies and vote on policies that the government might bring forward that will benefit all of Australians.”

Senator Brian Burston making the announcement at Parliament House in Canberra this morning. Picture: Kym Smith

Burston, pictured with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, has officially quit the party. Picture: Gary Ramage

Mr Palmer declared the party would run a candidate in every seat in the House of Representatives, and said his own bid would not be affected by criminal charges he is facing in regards to his troubled Sunshine Coast resort.

Asked why his bid for politics would succeed this time, after collapsing following the departure of members Jacqui Lambie and Glenn Lazarus and being delisted in 2017, Mr Palmer agreed personality parties were a “mistake”.

He insisted UAP would have strong support.

“Since Sunday night we had over 20,000 people contact our offices, joining our party and providing support.

He said the party would fill a gap, saying a “large proportion” of Australians needed better representation and better policies.

He also insisted he did not owe money to the workers from his collapsed Queensland Nickel refinery and lashed out at the liquidators.

“The administrator was offered a full cheque to pay everyone out. The administrator decide not to take the money but to get the fees on liquidation for himself,” Mr Palmer said today.

“The federal banking inquiry needs to be extended to look at liquidators and receivers who are holding businesses back, stopping people from getting employed and causing trouble.”

Clive Palmer in Townsville, having dinner at the Watermark. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Mr Palmer said the UAP — which takes its name from the political party of the 1930s and ’40s which prime ministers’ Sir Robert Menzies and Sir Joseph Lyons belonged to — would return to its roots when “when politicians really mattered and could do something for the nation”.

He added: “It was that time when there were reporters that reported the news. There weren’t journalists who wrote fiction.”

Mr Palmer announced yesterday he was intending to make a political comeback under the UAP banner rather than resurrect his former party name, the Palmer United Party.

The Courier-Mail reported this morning Mr Burston was expected to be Mr Palmer’s first recruit.

Mr Palmer’s new bid for federal Parliament, which comes as he faces both civil and court action, has been slammed by politicians from both major parties.

Asked about Mr Palmer’s plans on ABC radio today, Mr Morrison: “I think people out in Australia would say ‘the circus doesn’t need another sideshow”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbill told reporters at Parliament: “As far as Mr Palmer is concerned, I guess all I can say is we have seen that film before.”

Queensland Labor senator Anthony Chisholm said it was a “disgrace to give Palmer the time of day and a leg up into parliamentary representation”.