Clive Palmer’s UAP candidate says party has ‘no heart for real Australians’
A NSW candidate for Clive Palmer’s UAP has quit, claiming that the political party that champions freedom operates more like a communist organisation.
NSW
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A former federal election candidate for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party says its claim of standing for freedom is “superficial”, and that in his experience the UAP is “extremely authoritarian”, operating more like a communist organisation.
Timothy Banfield, who was announced as the UAP’s representative for the southern NSW seat of Whitlam, told The Daily Telegraph he was so disillusioned that he wouldn’t even be voting for the UAP.
“They have no heart for real Australians. It’s all a front and superficial,” the salesman and Christian minister said.
Several UAP candidates have told The Telegraph the party bans them from talking to all media outlets except local newspapers. Mr Banfield said he was released from this restriction in a phone conversation with a party official.
But when he later disclosed to the party that he had done a pre-recorded interview with ABC radio, he received an email saying he had breached a UAP directive. He said he was then suspended.
“I find it quite ironic that the ‘party of freedom’ was not allowing its candidates to talk to the press,” Mr Banfield said.
He described the UAP as “communistic”, with head office controlling everything.
He said House of Representatives candidates such as himself were “puppets” handing out how-to-vote cards to help win Senate seats.
Mr Banfield said he proposed that the party announce it wanted the federal government to commit up to $50 million to improve a dangerous road between the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands, but he said his proposal was ignored.
“The UAP is not interested in local matters,” he said.
Mr Banfield quit the party on March 12.
“I am definitely not voting for them,” he said. “I’m that disillusioned with politics … I’m probably going to put in a donkey vote.”
Mr Banfield said he met UAP leader Craig Kelly on three occasions earlier this year and thought he was “great”. He said he had not dealt with the party’s billionaire founder, Mr Palmer.
On Thursday Mr Kelly did not respond to phone calls or text messages. UAP head office also did not reply to emails from The Daily Telegraph.
Another UAP candidate, solicitor Mahmoud Mando, told The Telegraph he had withdrawn.
Mr Mando, who was standing in the seat of Barton, said he had withdrawn because he is a dual citizen of Australia and Lebanon. Under the Constitution, dual citizens are not permitted to stand for election.
“I’m not prepared to renounce my Lebanese citizenship,” he said. “I am still a member of the party and I wish them luck.”
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