Clive Palmer and Campbell Newman in preference swap deal

Clive Palmer and Campbell Newman have reunited over their opposition to vaccine mandates, agree to swap first preferences at the federal election.

Political frenemies … Liberal Democrats Senate candidate and former Queensland premier Campbell Newman and United Australia Party’s Clive Palmer announce their preferencing deal for the federal election in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled

It was only a few years ago that Campbell Newman partly blamed Clive Palmer for the demise of his LNP government in Queensland, just one term after winning in a ­record landslide.

But on Tuesday, the pair joined hands in solidarity, united by their opposition to mandatory Covid vaccinations and their parallel hopes of gaining a foothold in the federal parliament.

The public bouts between the then premier and billionaire businessman – which began almost ­immediately after the Liberal ­National Party swept to power in 2012 – were no ordinary political exchanges.

After Mr Newman slammed the door shut on Mr Palmer’s hopes for special treatment in his coal and tourism projects, the LNP’s longtime financial patron bitterly turned on the Sunshine State’s first conservative government in more than a decade.

Mr Palmer called Mr Newman a “Nazi” and a “criminal” who led an unpopular, corrupt government – and he backed it up with an advertising blitz ahead of the 2015 election campaign that sent the LNP back into the wilderness.

“Goodbye Campbell Newman, goodbye,” Mr Palmer, who quit the LNP during the Newman ­government years, said gleefully in his expensive television ads.

But now the foes are friends, seemingly united in their opposition to vaccine mandates and hope to carve out some political relevance at the next federal poll.

It took just three lunches, instigated after their declared despair at the impotence of the LNP in the recent election, which Labor’s ­Annastacia Palaszczuk won in a thumping third-term victory.

“We broke bread and we made peace over those lunches,” Mr Newman told The Australian after announcing that his Liberal Democrats would swap preferences with Mr Palmer’s United ­Australia Party.

“I was pretty angry with him and he with me.

“Today is really about real leadership, about getting change in Canberra and getting rid of the sludge and the political hacks in office.”

Earlier this year, Mr Newman quit the LNP and joined the ­Liberal Democrats to lead their Senate ticket in Queensland.

Palmer’s UAP is contesting seats across the country and he is expected to spend tens of millions on his campaign, as he did in 2019.

The pair are both public critics of vaccine mandates and Covid-19 restrictions. At a press conference in Brisbane, the chemistry between the two was jovial as they announced their parties would ­direct voters to list the other as a second preference.

“Who would have thought this day would have ever come, Clive?” Mr Newman said.

The preference swap would apply to both the House of Representatives and Senate tickets, on which Mr Newman will appear.

Mr Newman will likely battle with Pauline Hanson, the LNP’s Amanda Stoker and the Greens’ Penny Allman-Payne for the state’s fifth and sixth Senate seats.

Mr Palmer, whose massive $80m advertising campaign was blamed by Labor for Bill Shorten’s 2019 election loss, said he had the capacity for a repeat performance.

“We stand today at a critical moment, an important time in our history, when the Australian people have been let down by the Liberal, Labor and Greens parties,” Mr Palmer said.

“The nation calls for new leadership. I think we’re lucky that Campbell Newman has stepped forward in this election because he is a person with great courage and great conviction. What’s at stake here is freedom.”

He said the UAP’s leader, former Liberal MP Craig Kelly, had been responsible for the party’s surge in membership to 83,000.

“I’m very happy to shake Campbell’s hand and say, ‘let’s get on with it’,” Mr Palmer said.

Both men decried the perceived loss of freedoms brought on by government restrictions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and they criticised Scott Morrison for failing to support legislation introduced by Mr Kelly on Monday to outlaw vaccine passports.

“At this time of national crisis, we need to end the Canberra nonsense and establish real leadership for Australia,” Mr Newman said.

“We need to give back the freedom to choose, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech.”

Mr Palmer openly said he had not received a Covid-19 vaccine, while Mr Newman more reluctantly said he had been jabbed.

“Frankly, no one should ask another Australian about their vaccine status,” Mr Newman said.

“As someone who is vaccinated, I do not give two hoots if a fellow Australian I am standing next to … is vaccinated or not, because I’ve got the best possible protection I can have, in my view.”

Mr Newman quit the LNP in July, saying the party had lost ­direction and no longer represented its traditional values.