Palmer United Party state leader quits over ‘jobs for the boys’ culture

THE Queensland leader of the Palmer United Party has quit in disgust over a “jobs for the boys’’ culture.

THE Queensland leader of the Palmer United Party has quit in disgust over a “jobs for the boys’’ culture that he claims is being pushed in the fledgling political entity by businessman Clive ­Palmer.

PUP parliamentary leader Alex Douglas, who defected from the Liberal National Party, resigned as Mr Palmer was preparing to release a list of candidates for next year’s state election.

Dr Douglas claims he had no input in the preselection of the candidates, which he says will be dominated by friends of the mining businessman and federal MP.

The resignation will leave just one PUP MP in the 89-seat state parliament, with LNP defector Carl Judge saying last night that Mr Palmer and the party executive now backed him as parliamentary leader. Mr Palmer, who named PUP after himself, said no political party could be dominated by just one person and that Dr Douglas had left because he “did not get his way’’.

Earlier, Mr Palmer said on his Twitter account that Dr Douglas had wanted PUP to merge with Katter’s Australian Party.

“Former @PalmerUtdParty Qld leader @AlexDouglasMP is close to KAP — @RealBobKatter’s his uncle! Alex wanted to merge but executive disagreed,’’ Mr Palmer tweeted. Earlier this year, local news­papers reported that the two parties had been in negotiations to merge — which was denied by both Mr Palmer and independent MP Bob Katter.

Dr Douglas did not return calls last night. He will hold a press conference this morning on the Gold Coast. Announcing his resignation from PUP in a statement, Dr Douglas said he did not support “jobs for the boys”.

“I cannot support, nor will I endorse, actions taken that defeat principles that I strongly adhere to,’’ he said. “I regret that I have had to take these actions, but I am reliably informed that a list of preselected candidates for the Queensland state election will be announced today on the Palmer United Party’s website.

“I have had no involvement in the preselection of candidates. From my understanding, this process does not reflect principles which I firmly support.”

Mr Judge told The Australian that he would not discuss the ­reasons behind Dr Douglas’s decision. “I am really disappointed with Alex. He indicated that he was worried about a couple of ­issues,’’ he said. “But it is not for me to go into that. I am happy to lead the party to the next election.’’

According to recent polls, PUP could win up to 15 per cent of the vote in some seats, particularly on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

In a statement, Mr Palmer did not comment on Dr Douglas’s ­departure. “Carl Judge has a strong commitment to Queensland and he has the character to lead the party to confront the many challenges the state now faces,” he said.

Mr Palmer said business owner and PUP official Jim MacAnally had been endorsed as the party’s candidate for the Gold Coast seat of Burleigh.

He said PUP would announce more candidates in coming weeks.