PUP adviser Jim MacAnally set up Clive Palmer’s gong

ONE of Clive Palmer’s most trusted political advisers has been named as the promoter of the ­tycoon’s winning “Good Sam­aritan of the Year”.

ONE of Clive Palmer’s most trusted political advisers has been named as the promoter of the ­tycoon’s winning “Good Sam­aritan of the Year” nomination for a helicopter rescue he did not ­perform.

A little-known charity called Good Samaritan Awards Incorporated, set up and wholly controlled by one of the Palmer United Party’s Senate candidates, Wayne Slattery, awarded the gong to Mr Palmer in a ceremony in Canberra last month.

The glowing official citation described Mr Palmer during the 2011 Queensland floods as having “risked jail time to fly in and save his staff … on his way out of the area, he noticed other people stranded on roof tops and in danger of being swept away. That day he saved a further 16 families, disregarding his own civil liberties.”

The Australian yesterday revealed that Mr Palmer was in one of his luxury homes when the pilot of his helicopter performed the January 2011 rescues,

It has now emerged that the man who promoted Mr Palmer as a worthy recipient for the Good Samaritan award was one of his closest allies, Jim MacAnally, a Gold Coast businessman, member of PUP and former vice-president of the Queensland Liberal Party.

Mr MacAnally’s role as instigator of the award to Mr Palmer, who has previously insisted on calling himself “Professor Palmer” and a Living National Treasure, means top PUP figures have been involved at each stage of the award — by proposing, controlling and receiving it.

Mr Slattery, pressed by ABC Brisbane radio presenter Steve Austin yesterday to disclose who had nominated Mr Palmer, cited “privacy” issues. He refused to reveal the name of the man, whom he described as a “Brisbane businessman”, and he refused to reveal those on the ­“selection panel” that chose Mr Palmer.

Mr Slattery told The Aus­tralian: “Clive Palmer was nominated by Jim MacAnally, a businessperson in Queensland.”

He added: “The information we were given (in the nomination) was that he flew in and helped the people on his farm and rescued another 60 people on the way out. We feel the award was well deserved for his efforts.”

Mr MacAnally has been ­singled out as a PUP power­broker seeking to persuade Liberal National Party members of Campbell Newman’s government to defect to PUP. He did not return The Australian’s call. In the federal election he won about 15 per cent of the primary vote as PUP’s candidate for Fadden.

Mr Palmer yesterday criticised The Australian for its reporting on the award. The federal MP said he had not made financial contributions to the charity. He denied he had any role in selecting himself for the award or knowing he would get it, and he acknowledged he did not fly the helicopter or engage in rescues.

“I did authorise my helicopter and give the direction that people be picked up on the roofs,’’ he said. “Our helicopter went somewhere we were told not to go … we disregarded regulations because people’s lives were at risk.”

The charity’s website has embedded text, visible only to search engines, with key words “Clive Palmer, pet care, Good Samaritan awards, how to make a will, estate lawyer, aged care, RSPCA, pet insurance”, repeated more than 200 times. The key words for the charity, which solicits online donations, mean people who type in such words will be directed to the site.