Palmer link to ex-PMs ‘ludicrous’

Clive Palmer’s attempt to pass off Robert Menzies, Billy Hughes and Joseph Lyons as past members of his United Australia Party is “ludicrous’’.

The link on Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party website claiming past prime ministers as former members.

Clive Palmer’s attempt to pass off former prime ministers Robert Menzies, Billy Hughes and Joseph Lyons as past members of his United Australia Party has been labelled as “ludicrous” by experts.

University of Queensland political science expert Stephen Bell said the claim that the former prime ministers were linked to the current UAP seemed misleading.

“Palmer’s UAP is clearly not the original,” Dr Bell said.

“It would seem (misleading), since the ‘modern’ UAP and the old one don’t overlap.”

The original UAP was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945.

Billy Hughes served as prime minister from 1915-1923 as a member of the National Labor Party and the Nationalist Party. He joined the United Australia Party but did not serve as prime minister during that time.

As leader of the UAP, Joseph Lyons was prime minister from 1932 until his death in 1939.

Menzies’ first term as prime minister, as leader of the UAP, lasted from 1939 to 1941.

He is best remembered for founding the Liberal Party and his second term as prime minister from 1949 to 1966.

A spokesman from the Menzies Research Centre, a Liberal Party think tank, said “Palmer’s plan to refloat the UAP is as credible as his bid to refloat the ­Titanic”. “While it ultimately failed, the UAP was a serious party that pursued policies in the ­national interest,” the spokesman said.

“It stood up for businesses, tradesmen, farmers and hardworking employees alike. Palmer’s party is merely a vehicle for his own interests.

“It lacks any coherent policies or any purpose other than the self-aggrandisement of its founder.”

Mr Palmer and UAP media adviser Andrew Crook could not be reached for comment yesterday.

When Mr Palmer founded the Palmer United Party in 2012, he intended to use the United Australia Party name but was unable to register the name because of the similarly-named Uniting Australia Party. PUP was deregistered in May last year after a disastrous showing at the 2016 federal election.

In February Mr Palmer announced he would seek to recontest the next federal election and in June he said the party would be re-registered with the changed name.

Shortly before the official announcement, Mr Palmer’s smiling photograph appeared on bright yellow billboards around the country with the slogan “Make Australia Great”. One Nation ­defector Brian Burston is the party’s only sitting member.

University of Sydney government expert Rod Tiffen likened the situation to someone changing their name to Charles Dickens and taking credit for the author’s work.

The United Australia Party website lists the three men in the “About Us” section under the heading “prime ministers”.

When the dissolved Palmer United Party was relaunched as the UAP this year, Mr Palmer claimed it was a “re-establishment” of the former UAP.

Dr Tiffen told The Australian it was “just ridiculous” for the current UAP to claim the three former prime ministers as its own.

A spokesman from the Australian Electoral Commission said the organisation could not answer the question of whether or not the current UAP was the same as the previous party.

Mr Palmer told The Australian that both of his parents were members of the UAP and that his father was a supporter of Joe Lyons. “Our party policies follow Joe Lyons’ lead of putting Australia first,” he said. “Our members and others have strong ties to the original party.”

Mr Palmer, who was previously a life member of the ­Liberal Party, said the party was “heading for oblivion”.