Newly announced United Australia Party leader Geoff Shaw calls Liberals a ‘weak alternative’

Former Liberal MP Geoff Shaw is making a political comeback because he is “fed up with Dan Andrews”.

Geoff Shaw addressing a press conference on Wednesday after being announced as UAP leader for the Victorian state election. Picture: Luis Ascui

Former Liberal MP Geoff Shaw will lead Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party at the Victorian state election.

Mr Shaw, who served as Frankston MP from 2010 to 2014 but was suspended from the parliament for misusing entitlements, on Wednesday announced his return to politics.

“Simply I’m standing because I’m fed up with Dan Andrews,” he said.

“Never again do I want Dan, or his Labor donkeys, running Victoria.

“For many years we’ve suffered and we’re still suffering as Victorians because of policies that have destroyed families, small businesses, and jobs … and those policies are the direct result and they lay at the feet of Daniel Andrews in his Labor cohorts.”

Mr Shaw resigned from the parliamentary Liberal Party in 2012 and became an independent, where he held the balance of power in parliament for a period of time.

Clive Palmer with Geoff Shaw. Picture: Luis Ascui

Mr Shaw says he is ‘fed up with Dan Andrews’. Picture: Luis Ascui

Mr Shaw served as Frankston MP from 2010 to 2014. Picture: Nicole Garmston

In May that year, allegations emerged that his parliamentary vehicle was misused to run deliveries for his private business.

He was subsequently charged by police with 23 counts of obtaining financial benefit by deception and one of misconduct in public office in September 2013. The charges were dropped months later.

The matter was referred to the parliamentary privileges committee, who cleared Mr Shaw of contempt of parliament, but found him guilty of contravening the code of conduct for MPs.

Asked why Victorians should have trust to re-elect him after previous allegations levelled against him in parliament, Mr Shaw said: “That’s a drop in the ocean now when we see what Dan Andrews has actually done.”

Here is UAP Senator Ralph Babet introducing Geoff Shaw: pic.twitter.com/i2FQ9oOXfp

— Mitch Clarke (@96mitchclarke) October 12, 2022

“The Ombudsman and the Public Prosecution went through that and they dropped it,” he said.

“The ones that said ‘naughty boy, you need to fix that up’, was a parliamentary committee made up of my enemies … so you work that out.”

Mr Palmer on Wednesday confirmed the United Australia Party has officially been registered by the Victorian Electoral Commission.

The billionaire mining magnate said his party intended to field two candidates in each of the eight upper house seats in a bid to hold the balance of power in the Legislative Council.

“Dan Andrews and his Labor government have caused chaos in Victoria, and the Liberal Party is a weak alternative,” he said.

At May’s federal election the UAP lost its only lower house seat, but picked up a seat in the Senate with the election of Ralph Babet from Victoria.

Major parties ‘have taken Victoria backwards’

Self declared “national living treasure” Clive Palmer will visit Melbourne on Wednesday to launch his party’s Victorian election campaign.

Palmer will announce the Victorian leader of the United Australia Party which is vying to hold the balance of power in the upper house following the November 26 poll.

Pollsters expect the party to pick up fringe votes from disaffected voters angry over the Andrews government’s handling of the pandemic.

At May’s federal election the UAP lost its only lower house seat, but picked up a seat in the Senate with the election of Ralph Babet from Victoria.

It’s expected the United Australia Party will pick up fringe votes from disaffected voters.

The party picked up 4.12 per cent of the national vote in the lower house after spending $100m on an advertising campaign.

In the Senate it picked up 3.46 per cent of the vote.

In a press release issued after the party was formally registered with the Victorian Electoral Commission Palmer said Victoria had been ruined by successive Coalition and Labor governments.

“The major parties have the same policies and the same promises and both have taken Victoria backwards,” Mr Palmer said.

“The only way to get this great state back on its feet and returned to its past prosperity is to vote for a change at the November 29 (sic) Victorian election.”

Mr Palmer pointed to his party’s record at a federal level, citing major economic and environmental reform, a fairer deal for pensioners and rejection of undemocratic laws.

“Now Victorians have the chance to achieve genuine change and hold their government more accountable by handing the balance of power in the upper house of Victorian Parliament to the Palmer United Party,” he said.

“The Palmer United Party stands as the last sentry at the gate to protect Victoria against the onslaught of the major parties who have a common agenda to shrink Victoria’s economy, create a permanent welfare state and destroy jobs and families.

“By voting for Palmer United candidates in the Victorian Legislative Council (VLC), voters have the chance to make a real difference by giving the Palmer United Party the balance of power and the opportunity to grow Victoria’s economy.”