‘Suffering’: New senator Ralph Babet’s whinge about $200k payday

A shock win has catapulted a real estate agent into the Senate under Clive Palmer’s banner. And it seems he’d rather be somewhere else.

Victoria’s newest senator has whined that the job won’t pay him enough to compensate for the “suffering” he will endure in parliament.

Ralph Babet, who also goes as Deej Babet, is set to trade his real estate business in Melbourne’s southeast for a spot in the upper house after being elected under Clive Palmer’s party banner.

But according to the controversial new senator, he’d rather stay in Narre Warren running his business.

Former MP Craig Kelly and new UAP senator Ralph Babet.

“This is a sacrifice for me I’m doing it to serve my country,” he tweeted.

“It’s a pay cut. If you think 200k for the amount of work I will have to do and the amount of suffering I will endure is a good deal, then you’re wrong.

“I’d be happier running my business. I’m doing this for Australia.”

Mr Babet was elected to the sixth Senate spot in Victoria, unseating Liberal Greg Mirabella, despite only receiving 4 per cent of the vote.

Preference flows from One Nation and other minor parties bolstered the United Australia Party candidate, giving him enough votes to capture the final spot.

His brother Matt, who he runs his real estate business with, unsuccessfully contested Bruce in the House of Representatives.

Mr Babet returned to social media on Thursday.

Shortly after election night, Mr Babet deleted his UAP Facebook page and Twitter accounts.

On Thursday evening he returned to Twitter, claiming both accounts had been suspended.

“The more successful you are, the more people will hate you,” he said on Friday.

“It’s a reflection on themselves and their own failures in life. If you don’t have haters. You’re not working hard enough!”

In Victoria, the state most impacted by pandemic lockdowns, the UAP had a swing of 1.47 per cent.

Mr Babet with brother Matt.

Mr Babet’s strong anti-government and anti-vaccine mandate views are plastered all over his social media.

In his candidate profile, Mr Babet likens vaccine mandates to “segregation” and accused the government of being authoritarian.

He also claimed the future of Australia hinged on people like him.

“We’re not doing this because we want to but because we have to. Our country needs us. Public service has no tangible reward, history and doing what is right is the only reward,” he tweeted on Thursday.

The UAP campaigned heavily on the issue of “freedom” and opposed Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates.