LNP turmoil: ‘Get on board or jump off’, Deb Frecklington tells plotters
Queensland Opposition leader Deb Frecklington has gone on the attack against LNP backroom plotters after Clive Palmer waded in to the fray.
Queensland Opposition leader Deb Frecklington has gone on the attack against LNP backroom plotters blamed for trying to destabilise her, warning they should get on board or “jump off”.
Asked whether Liberal National Party president Dave Hutchinson should resign, following revelations of his job with the LNP’s political rival Clive Palmer and allegations Mr Hutchinson spearheaded a campaign against Ms Frecklington, she was blunt.
“We need to have a laser-like focus winning on the next state election, my entire parliamentary team are behind me,” Ms Frecklington told Radio 4BC in Brisbane on Tuesday.
“I know there are thousands of LNP members who are rock solid on wanting to win this next election, so what I say is if you’re not on board, jump off. But what we’ve got to do is make sure the enemy is the Palaszczuk government.”
Mr Hutchinson is digging in and has indicated he will not resign.
The Palaszczuk Labor government capitalised on the internal fighting in the LNP in parliament on Tuesday.
Treasurer Cameron Dick said the government was not going to “fight with ourselves like the LNP”.
“The LNP are in chaos, with an organisation that does not support its leader and a leader that does not support its opposition,” Mr Dick said.
“The LNP are not talking about jobs; they are talking about the backroom boys. ‘Backroom’s back, alright’. They are the same backroom boys who removed (former LNP MP) Verity Barton and the same backroom boys who were on Clive Palmer’s payroll.”
Palmer wades in to LNP plotters fray
Controversial businessman and political party founder Clive Palmer has criticised Ms Frecklington over her stoush with LNP headquarters, including his employee LNP president David Hutchinson.
On Twitter, Mr Palmer — the founder of the United Australia Party, a rival of the LNP — called on his history as a former LNP life member and National Party spokesman.
“Good government needs good leaders. Former LNP life member and National Party spokesman Clive Palmer said in Brisbane today it was sad to see LNP leader Deb Frecklington publicly attacking her own party when she should be focusing on the state election at this critical time,” Mr Palmer tweeted.
“The Labor Party has destroyed the fabric of Queensland and reduced our wealth to the lowest in the Commonwealth.”
“It is so important for Queensland that the Labor Party does not win the next election.”
Good government needs good leaders
— Clive Palmer (@CliveFPalmer) June 15, 2020
Former LNP life member and National Party spokesman Clive Palmer said in Brisbane today it was sad to see LNP leader Deb Frecklington publicly attacking her own party when she should be focussing on the state election at this critical time.
“The Labor party has destroyed the fabric of Queensland and reduced our wealth to the lowest in the Commonwealth,’’
— Clive Palmer (@CliveFPalmer) June 15, 2020
“It is so important for Queensland that the Labor party does not win the next election.
“I would encourage all Queensland non-Labor political leaders to remain focused on the main game and not publicly attack members of their own party.
“This election is about a four-year term. Queensland can’t afford four more years of hard Labor.
“It is important that we don’t divide the non-Labor forces and that we don’t divide the people of Queensland.
“It is not about gender, it is about good government and leadership. Men and woman all want the same prosperous future for their families.”
Mr Palmer employs Mr Hutchinson, the LNP president, as a property consultant. He has former LNP president Bruce McIver, as director of one of his development companies.
Both Mr Hutchinson and Mr McIver have been involved in the destabilisation campaign against Ms Frecklington as leader.
Other senior LNP figures and members of the party’s state executive also have strong links with Mr Palmer, but deny involvement in the plotting against Ms Frecklington.
Malcolm Cole and federal Nationals president Larry Anthony are on the LNP state executive and their SAS Group does communications work for Mr Palmer.
It follows an exclusive report in The Australian that Liberal National Party backroom figures behind a destabilising campaign against Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington are on the payroll of political rival Clive Palmer.
Just four months out from the October 31 state election, the LNP is again at war with itself as the opposition MPs locked in behind Ms Frecklington in the face of the extraordinary move by party headquarters, led by president David Hutchinson.
As the LNP partyroom on Monday unanimously backed a motion of support for Ms Frecklington, ambitious frontbencher and headquarters-preferred leader David Crisafulli publicly ruled out a challenge ahead of the poll.
Mr Hutchinson’s future is now in doubt, with a senior LNP source saying “he will resign on Tuesday”.
Mr Hutchinson — who last year controversially took a job for Mr Palmer as a property consultant — on Monday night was hosting a political fundraiser and declared he was not quitting the position.
Despite Ms Frecklington staring down organisational pressure to quit as leader, Mr Hutchinson has privately threatened to cut funding for Ms Frecklington and the party’s October campaign to oust Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The push for leadership change by Mr Hutchinson has been backed by former LNP president and powerbroker Bruce McIver, who recently returned as a director of one of Mr Palmer’s development companies.
Mr Hutchinson’s close party ally, Malcolm Cole, and federal Nationals president Larry Anthony are both members of the LNP state executive and continue to work for Mr Palmer, through their communications and lobbying company SAS Group.
It is understood leaked secret polling used to destabilise Ms Frecklington — and only partly shown to her late last week — was commissioned by the LNP president’s committee and conducted by the Nationals’ preferred pollster.
Ms Frecklington received a standing ovation at Monday’s partyroom meeting, with her frontbenchers fronting the media to declare support and demand Mr Hutchinson choose between Mr Palmer and the top job of the LNP organisation.
Asked whether Mr Hutchinson should resign, Ms Frecklington — who on Sunday accused the “backroom boys of the LNP” of bullying — said it was a matter for him. “But what I’m concerned about is Queensland and getting us working again,” she said.
“What I know is my team and I are just rock solid. We are ready to fight the Palaszczuk government.”
Mr Hutchinson’s role with Mr Palmer has angered many LNP members.
Party statesman and former premier Rob Borbidge said Mr Hutchinson’s job with Mr Palmer was a “matter for his conscience” but was “not a good look”.
“Time and time again the problem in Australian politics has been faceless men who don’t behave themselves,” Mr Borbidge said.
He said the party organisation should now accept the decision of the parliamentary wing, which had overwhelmingly backed Ms Frecklington.
The animosity between Ms Frecklington and Mr Hutchinson began after The Australian revealed in January that he had secured a job with Mr Palmer, after the pair struck a preference deal that helped return the Morrison government to power.
Several sources have confirmed Ms Frecklington told Mr Hutchinson his position was untenable at a fiery state executive meeting at the Brisbane airport that week. The confrontation elicited a promise from Mr Hutchinson that he would resign if Mr Palmer’s party was to contest the Queensland election.
In late April, Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party registered as a political party in the state. Weeks later, the LNP hierarchy commissioned the damaging internal polling on Ms Frecklington, which showed her trailing Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in popularity.
Yet official LNP polling, seen by The Australian, conducted in November and again in March described Ms Frecklington as “an asset” to the party.
Senior LNP organisational sources believe Ms Frecklington cannot win the election, and say donors are refusing to give cash to the party with her as leader, stating she is a “lost cause”.
Senior sources said party headquarters would consider restricting the amount of funding it spent on Ms Frecklington and the party’s campaign, not wanting to run it into debt. According to donation disclosures, the LNP has raised $1.4m this year, compared with Labor’s $766,000 donations.
Former LNP premier Campbell Newman, ousted after just one term in power, partly blamed his brawling with the party organisation — then led by Mr McIver — for his government’s defeat in 2015. At the time, Mr McIver was a director of five companies owned by Mr Palmer and the businessman was one of the government’s loudest critics.
According to Supreme Court legal documents, then LNP member Mr Palmer was demanding preferential treatment for a massive coalmining venture in the Galilee Basin in April 2012, just after Mr Newman had won a landslide victory. Mr Palmer allegedly said: “I have paid a lot of money to get you guys elected and I have a lot more money to continue to do that in the future.”
On Monday, a spokesman for Mr Palmer said the businessman — who did not return calls — would soon make an announcement about whether his party would run at the state election.
Mr Hutchinson, Mr McIver, and Mr Cole, on behalf of SAS Group, declined to comment.
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