Clive Palmer millions count for nothing

Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer was the biggest spender of the election campaign, but the massive spend did not convert to votes for his party.

A Labor source estimated Mr Palmer would have spent at least $8m on traditional media advertising and billboards during the campaign.

Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer was the biggest spender of the election campaign, splashing more cash in the months leading up to polling day than ­either of the major parties.

The massive spend did not convert to votes for Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party, which recorded one of the worst results in the state.

Tracking of advertising spending showed Mr Palmer outspent all his rivals in every week of the campaign but exact figures have yet to be declared.

A Labor source estimated Mr Palmer would have spent at least $8m on traditional media advertising and billboards during the campaign.

The UAP dominated radio, TV and print advertising in an attempt to cruel Labor’s chances of regaining government, warning Queenslanders about Labor’s ­alleged “death tax” — a claim emphatically denied by the ALP.

Meanwhile, the businessman poured $4.6m from his flagship company Mineralogy into the UAP campaign war chest through donations, as well as tipping more money in personally and through other corporate entities.

Despite standing 55 candidates across the state, the UAP achieved just 12,657 votes, about 0.6 per cent of the total state primary vote. From the donation pool alone, Mr Palmer spent the equivalent of at least $363.43 for each vote received.

As of Sunday evening, the UAP received fewer votes than both Legalise Cannabis Queensland (19,410) and the Informed Medical Options Party (12,938).

A Labor source estimated Mr Palmer had spent at least $8m on advertising, an amount that would eclipse both major parties.

The source said Labor had learnt from last year’s federal election, where Mr Palmer’s ­attacks on then federal party leader Bill Shorten went unchallenged and helped Scott Morrison hold government.

“It didn’t work, so this time we called him out,” the source said.

The fightback started with state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell publicly calling Mr Palmer a “liar” over his death tax claims, and hit prominence when retiring tourism minister Kate Jones labelled Mr Palmer’s campaign ”bullshit” in the final week.

Academics at the Queensland University of Technology estimate Mr Palmer outspent ­rivals online, placing $84,000 worth of advertisements on Facebook through the first three weeks of the election.

UAP deputy leader Anna Palmer, the businessman’s wife, ran for the Gold Coast seat of Currumbin, and while she appeared prominently in the party’s advertising material in the latter half of the campaign, she won just 397 primary votes, putting her in seventh place with 1.4 per cent of the vote.

In Townsville, UAP state leader Greg Dowling placed eighth behind the Animal Justice Party, Informed Medical Options Party and One Nation.

Mr Palmer’s Mineralogy gave more than 75 individual ­donations, with about $3.7m made in two donations.