PUP’s a family business and all power lies in patriarch’s hands

PUP Leader Clive Palmer holds a press conference in strong winds , blowing his hair around, to talk about his negotiations with the government, near his Sovereign Island home , at Paradise Point on the Gold Coast.

FOR voters looking beyond the public facade of the Palmer United Party, its constitution — the framework of rules that govern how it is meant to be operated — is a good starting point.

The constitution has not been available on the party’s website, but it can be ­accessed at the Electoral Commission Queensland.

The PUP constitution makes it plain that this is a political party with a unique base. Its rules — and the identities of the family appointees who run its committees — highlight the PUP as an entity owned and ruled by the patriarch with the support of relatives.

But the constitution is not all his own work: large chunks have been lifted and copied from the constitution of the Liberal National Party.

Palmer has been accused of rampant cronyism by Alex Douglas, who last week quit the PUP as Queensland parliamentary leader and slammed doors on his way out.

Neither Douglas nor anyone who has read the PUP’s 60-page constitution should be surprised at Palmer’s propensity to run the party like a family business.

The cronyism is formally ­enshrined in the party’s constitution, guaranteeing there is iron-clad family control over the political wing.

The foundation members are the first clue: Clive Frederick Palmer, Clive Theodore Mensink (nephew), Blair Brewster (nephew), Martin Brewster (nephew), Michael Palmer (son) and Anna Palmer (wife). It takes a majority of the foundation members to expel a member; four could do it over a family dinner.

Power within PUP can be traced to the party’s “Interim Executive Committee’’, which is, perhaps unsurprisingly in a family business, made up of the same six relatives who are the foundation members.

The chairman is Palmer, the national treasurer is his wife Anna; his son Michael makes do with the title of president.

But as rule W3 says, “the chairman is fully authorised to exercise all powers of the Interim Exec­utive Committee and a declaration signed by the Chairman shall be conclusive proof of the subject matter of anything to which it ­relates”.

It means that if Palmer wants the PUP to do something, he can go ahead and execute without a nod from the family members who comprise the interim executive committee.

He can also “at any time wind up the Party”.

Party promoters claim there are thousands of PUP members, but few know they have zero influence if Palmer decides he is tired of the PUP and wants to delete it.

Further power comes from section V33 by which Palmer is empowered, not necessarily as an office holder (his name is sufficient) to change the constitution as he sees fit.

Contrary to the party’s stated objectives of attracting large numbers of like-minded individuals and letting them have their say, the rules give Palmer total control of the PUP and its resources. There is a facade of democratic values.

In addition to their other roles, Anna Palmer is also “President of the Palmer United Party Women”, and Michael Palmer is “President of the Young Palmer United Party”.

The constitution also permits Palmer wide discretion by ­giving him the right “to invest any monies of the Party not immediately required for any of its objects in such manner as may from time to time be required”.

Palmer launched the party last year with a pledge to “reunite the nation, restore competency to government and provide a plan for jobs growth to enable Australia’s economy to move forward”.