Palmer United Party back in Queensland race as it hits magic 500 mark

QUEENSLAND’S Electoral Commission has given the green light to the Palmer United Party to contest the next state election.

QUEENSLAND’S Electoral Commission has given the green light to the Palmer United Party to contest the next state election.

The ECQ said yesterday Clive Palmer’s political party would remain registered after it was satisfied it had 500 signed-up members in Queensland.

PUP had to prove it had the members to maintain its political registration in Queensland after it lost its status as a parliamentary party with the resignations of MPs Alex Douglas and Carl Judge — both defectors from the Liberal National Party.

Mr Palmer last week launched Supreme Court action to block the party’s deregis­tration amid questions over the legitimacy of a membership list submitted to the ECQ.

It contained names of people who had never formally joined or had resigned.

The legal action — due before the court next week — also sought an order to stop the ECQ ­requiring people on the list to confirm their membership.

The commission said the party had satisfied the 500 threshold on Friday. “PUP have been advised I will not deregister them as they have a sufficient number of members,” ECQ commissioner Walter van der Merwe said in a statement.

PUP had supplied a list of 659 members, with its national director, Peter Burke, admitting that the party’s executive last month voted to waive any outstanding membership fees and had automatically renewed the membership of each party member.