Queensland election: Labor seeks probe into Clive Palmer campaign donations

Labor has asked Queensland’s Electoral Commission to investigate whether Clive Palmer is breaching the state’s strict campaign expenditure caps.

Clive Palmer in Townsville. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Labor has asked Queensland’s electoral commission to investigate if Clive Palmer is breaching the state’s strict campaign expenditure caps by using his private company Mineralogy to spend an extra $1m to promote his political party and attack the ALP.

The Australian reported last week that five of Mr Palmer’s private companies — including a business that was deregistered in 2016 — had donated more than $2.09m to Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party since the end of June, including a $2m donation from Mineralogy. Since then, an extra $20,000 has been donated by four of the companies and Mr Palmer himself.

The latest donations include $11,000 from Mr Palmer for advertising, and nearly $4000 from Mineralogy to pay for “wages for staff working on CPUAP for fortnight ending 25 September 2020”.

Bright yellow billboards, authorised by Mineralogy, are plastered across both Brisbane and Townsville, telling voters: “Clive says … give Labor the boot.”

Advertisements are also appearing in newspapers, on television and online, with some of his latest newspaper ads personally attacking Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young.

Mr Palmer has registered Mineralogy — of which he is the sole director and secretary — as a third party, allowing the company to spend $1m statewide in the campaign. That’s on top of the $92,000 each political party can spend for each seat it stands in, and an extra $58,000 for each party-endorsed candidate, under the state’s new electoral expenditure reforms.

Labor has written to the Electoral Commission of Queensland to ask it to consider whether Mr Palmer has breached the electoral legislation by using his companies to circumvent expenditure caps.

The Australian understands Labor argues that Mineralogy should be considered an associated entity to Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party, and its expenditure should therefore be included in the party’s overall cap.

Labor state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell said: “The latest revelations about Clive Palmer show just how desperate he is to get (Opposition Leader) Deb Frecklington elected as premier.

“Clive Palmer has tried to undermine the Palaszczuk government’s border protections through litigation, and is using Mineralogy’s money to launch desperate, personal attacks on Premier Palaszczuk and the Chief Health Officer,” she said.

“And he’s been cheered on all the way by Deb Frecklington.”

A spokesman for Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party said Labor was scared. “(Labor) is really the pot calling the kettle black,” the spokesman said. “They’ve been using taxpayers’ funds to promote themselves, and they’re doing anything to stop anyone else spending any money. They don’t want any competition. They must be scared of what we’re doing.”

An ECQ spokeswoman said the commission had received correspondence from the ALP.

“The ECQ continues to monitor the political activities of all electoral participants,” she said.