Clive Palmer strikes back at Coalition

CLIVE Palmer has likened the presence of paid lobbyists on the national executives of political parties to past corruption

A BELLIGERENT Clive Palmer has likened the presence of paid political lobbyists on the national executives of the Liberal and Nationals parties to Fitzgerald-era corruption in Queensland, saying it amounted to "favours for policy".

Stepping up his attack on federal Liberal president and former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale, and party vice-president and former Howard government minister Santo Santoro, the billionaire miner and political donor hit back at criticism that he was destabilising the Coalition.

"My loyalties are to Australia before the Liberal Party," said Mr Palmer, who has been a member of the former Queensland National Party and the merged Liberal National Party for 43 years.

"All you need is for good men and women to say nothing and be compromised, and I won't be compromised on this."

Referring to the Fitzgerald inquiry, which in the late 1980s exposed entrenched corruption in Queensland, destroying Joh Bjelke-Petersen's long-serving National Party-led government, Mr Palmer told The Australian: "Go back and read the report. And Tony Fitzgerald says quite correctly there was a culture that had developed of looking after mates, and mates being more important than actual issues and propriety.

"So . . . having paid political lobbyists in these positions (in political parties), beside the actual impropriety and appearance of it, it develops that culture, right. It's favours for policy, right."

Mr Palmer insists he will move at the weekend's federal council of the Liberal Party for registered lobbyists to be banned from office-bearer positions and fund-raising, in line with the LNP policy in Queensland.

He said LNP president Bruce McIver had "toyed" with the idea of challenging Mr Stockdale before this was vetoed by Tony Abbott.

Mr Palmer said the Opposition Leader, during a heated discussion with him last Thursday, had said he would not stand by and allow the party president and vice-presidents to be embarrassed at federal council. But Mr Palmer refused to drop the motion. "Adolf Hitler wasn't in favour of people being able to put forward resolutions, but I didn't think we were in Nazi Germany in 1939," he said.

Mr Stockdale last night rejected Mr Palmer's assertion that he was a paid lobbyist, saying this had never been the case.

He said he had registered briefly as a lobbyist at the request of a Victorian minister's office to assist a friend dealing with the state government.

Mr Stockdale also insisted that his company, E.C. Strategies, had no involvement in lobbying.

Asked why Mr Palmer had targeted him, Mr Stockdale said: "I don't want to get into a debate about why he is doing that."

Senior Liberals, who would not be named, said they had been approached by Mr Palmer to support Mr McIver for the federal presidency but noted he did not raise with them his concern about the presence of lobbyists on the federal executive.

Mr Palmer said yesterday that he did not take issue with party vice-president and former foreign minister Alexander Downer, who is a director of Adelaide corporate consultancy Bespoke Approach, and is listed on a state government register of lobbyists as "undertaking lobbying activities".

Mr Santoro is a registered lobbyist in Queensland, with clients including the Port of Brisbane authority and listed rail freight operator QR National. He declined to comment when contacted yesterday by The Australian.

The ABC's Lateline reported last night that Mr Santoro had approached the broadcaster in April with an offer to promote its interests in Queensland after the LNP was elected to power in the state under Campbell Newman.

The Australian yesterday put this allegation to ABC managing director Mark Scott, but his spokeswoman said he had no comment.

Mr Palmer described Mr Santoro's approach to the ABC as "appalling", telling Lateline that he understood Mr Scott had relayed his concerns to a senior federal Coalition frontbencher.

Earlier, Mr Palmer said he had corporate governance and financial transparency concerns about the federal Liberal Party organisation and there were better candidates for the federal presidency, including Mr McIver and former Howard minister Peter Reith, who narrowly lost a challenge for the job last year.