Clive Palmer and Campbell Newman announce preference swap deal

Clive Palmer and Campbell Newman have put their bad blood behind them to announce a new deal they say will “give Australia a future”.

Former political arch nemeses Clive Palmer and Campbell Newman have decided to work together at the next federal election, announcing a preference swap deal between their respective parties in their first public outing together in years.

Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party and the Liberal Democrats, of which Mr Newman is leader, have come together in order to “get the country back on track” and “give Australia a future” according to the pair.

United Australia Party leader Clive Palmer and Liberal Democrats senate candidate Campbell Newman announce their preference swap deal. Picture: Dan Peled

Former Queensland Premier Mr Newman and mining magnate Mr Palmer 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”.

The pair said they had put the bad blood behind them, with Mr Palmer saying he realised Mr Newman “wasn’t a bad guy” during one of their recent lunch meetings when they both ordered oysters.

“I thought gee, we can agree on oysters, is there other things we could agree on?” Mr Palmer said.

Campbell Newman and Clive Palmer say their new deal with “get Australia back on track”: Picture: Dan Peled

Central to their shared ideology was “freedom”, they said, specifically around vaccine mandates.

While Mr Newman has been vaccinated against Covid-19, Mr Palmer has espoused anti-vaccine views.

Under the pair’s latest political partnership, the UAP and the Liberal Democrats will encourage supporters to vote for their party and then give their preference to the other minor outfit.

Mr Palmer would not say how much money he planned to sink into advertising at the next election, after spending about $60m at the last election.