Clive Palmer loses last Queensland state MP as Carl Judge walks out

CLIVE Palmer has lost political representation within the Queensland parliament after state MP Carl Judge last night resigned.

CLIVE Palmer has lost all political representation within the Queensland parliament after state MP Carl Judge last night resigned from his fledgling party.

The shock resignation leaves the Palmer United Party, which until recently held two seats, without any MPs in its home state’s parliament.

It also raises questions about PUP’s hope to win a key electorate in the Sunshine Coast in which the party has polled strongly, after Mr Judge ruled out continuing his plan to run in the seat of Kawana at next year’s state election.

Mr Judge’s departure follows fellow state MP Alex Douglas’s resignation from the PUP in ­August, over what the latter claimed was Mr Palmer’s attempts to place friends and family as PUP candidates for the state election.

Northern Territory MP Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu also resigned from the party last month, leaving only two PUP MPs in the territory.

Mr Palmer took to Twitter last night to say a new Queensland leader for PUP would be ­announced next week.

“Carl Judge will no longer be Qld leader of @palmerutdparty as he wants to restand for election in his current seat & not in Kawana ...” Mr Palmer said.

“A new state leader to be ­announced with more endorsed candidates next week. I wish Mr Judge well standing as independent in Yerrongpilly (sic).”

Mr Palmer has vowed to ­destroy the Liberal National Party in Queensland, following a 2012 falling out over a proposed resources project that was knocked back by the government.

The PUP last week succeeded in establishing a Senate inquiry into the Queensland government, after receiving backing from Labor and the Greens.

Mr Judge last night said he had agreed to run as the PUP’s candidate in Kawana, near Mr Palmer’s federal electorate of Fairfax, mainly because the party had no intention of running a campaign in his Brisbane seat of Yeerongpilly.

He said the PUP should be more focused on federal politics in its early years, and not on the Queensland parliament.

Mr Judge had an “amicable” conversation with Mr Palmer about his decision yesterday, and said he was resigning to focus as an independent on Yeerongpilly, where he lives with his family.

“My heart — and my home — is in the Yeerongpilly electorate,” Mr Judge told ABC radio. “Now the commitment I have to this electorate is unquestionable.

“My view is that there is more to be achieved by working as an ­independent.’’

He said he did not think his exit would cheapen the PUP’s brand in the eyes of Queensland voters, but he claimed his departure would help the party focus on establishing a stronger federal presence.

“It’s a fledgling political party and establishing a new political party is no easy feat by any means,” he told the ABC.

“Now the Palmer United Party may well contest the state election, and I think that’s a healthy thing for our democracy, particularly in the areas like the Sunshine Coast which have been dominated by the LNP.”

Mr Judge quit the LNP in late 2012 before joining the PUP last year. He vowed last night to continue fighting the LNP.

“Independent members of parliament who are there, committed to serve their electorates (and) ­answerable completely to their electorates are the way, I believe, to change politics in Queensland.”