Outgoing MP George Christensen seeks to pocket $100,000

George Christensen has sought to be disendorsed by the LNP in a move that could earn a six-figure taxpayer-funded payout.

Queensland MP George Christensen. Picture: Matt Taylor

Controversial Coalition MP George Christensen, who last month announced he would not contest the next federal election, has sought to be disendorsed by the Liberal National Party in a move that could pocket him a six-figure taxpayer-funded payout.

The four-term Nationals MP, who represents the north Queensland seat of Dawson, cited family reasons for his decision to resign. And lamenting that the state of politics was “broken”, he warned he would not go quietly as he served out his term.

The outspoken social conservative had already nominated for preselection, and had been approved to stand by the LNP’s candidate vetting committee ahead of his April 21 announcement that he was leaving politics.

But Mr Christensen has since failed to withdraw his nomination, and last week his local branch — the Federal Divisional Council for Dawson — requested that LNP headquarters overturn its candidate approval and formally reject his nomination to stand at the next election.

LNP insiders said the branch request was made “at the behest of” Mr Christensen.

If he is disendorsed by the party, he could be eligible for a taxpayer-funded pay­ment of $105,600, or six-months’ salary, as a “resettlement allowance”.

Under parliament rules, a politician who “retires involuntarily” from parliament — including through loss of party endorsement or for reasons other than misconduct — may be eligible for the one-off handout.

Mr Christensen — once dubbed the “Member for Manila” after taking at least 28 trips to the Philippines between 2014 and 2018 — did not return repeated calls for comment over the past few days.

LNP insiders said the issue had been raised at senior levels within the LNP and acting president Cynthia Hardy had indicated she intended to refuse the request.

“The branch, at Christensen’s behest, asked that LNP HQ reject his nomination so that he will then be able to claim the payment,’’ one insider said.

“But the candidate committee has already vetted him and there are no grounds to reject his nomination.”

Mr Christensen travelled to Brisbane for Saturday’s State Council meeting and voted in the ballot to determine the LNP senate ticket for the next election. He left shortly after the ballot.

The issue was also briefly raised at a meeting of the LNP’s administrative governing body, the state executive, on Friday before it was decided to discuss it later among select officials.

A party spokesman on Monday said Ms Hardy could not be reached for comment because she was travelling.

One LNP insider said there were fears about what Mr Christensen would do if the party refused to comply with the request of his branch. “He has publicly threatened to cross the floor before, so there is a fear he could cause some trouble for the government, especially with the budget,’’ one LNP insider said.

Fellow LNP MP Andrew Laming, who also announced he would not contest the next election, later also refused to withdraw his nomination for preselection and then appeared before the LNP’s candidate vetting committee.

Dr Laming, who announced his resignation after facing a string of sexual harassment and bullying allegations, had his nomination formally rejected by the vetting committee. But a LNP source said the written decision of the vetting committee, and its acknowledgment of Dr Laming’s earlier resignation announcement, would likely prevent him from being paid the allowance.

Ahead of the last federal election, it was revealed that Mr Christensen, 42, took at least 28 trips to the Philippines between 2014 and 2018, sometimes spending up to 10 weeks overseas in a single year.

However, the revelations didn’t seem to hurt his performance at the election.

A former Mackay councillor, Mr Christensen increased his vote in the conservative-minded electorate, which he holds with a comfortable margin of 14.61 per cent — an increase of 11.24 per cent from his performance at the 2016 election.

In a video on his Facebook page in April, Mr Christensen said he had grown increasingly concerned about the state of politics in Australia, but stopped short of criticising the government.

“Politics just does not seem to be working when it comes to issues that seem to matter to me and many others,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I’m not so sure anymore that these issues can be properly fixed by legislation and via the ballot box.”