Clive Palmer’s karma in Canberra approaches as the PUPs grow

REMEMBER when Clive Palmer said of Jacqui Lambie: she’s controlled by lobbyists. She’s trying to blackmail the government. She lies to gain media attention. She’s undermining the interests of Australians in preference to her own. That makes Lambie Palmer’s doppelganger — a junior version of the big bloke, albeit with less money. Big vested interests (his own), big lies and big media stunts are his calling card.

Call it karma in Canberra. Lambie and Palmer deserve one another. The question was never about if, only when one of these two Palmer United Party narcissists would find the other a constraint on their own populist ambitions. The real question is whether two nice blokes like Glenn Lazarus and Dio Wang will stick by Palmer.

Palmer couldn’t resist getting Lambie on board. As Alex Douglas, a state MP who defected to PUP in Queensland has revealed, he advised Palmer against Lambie but Palmer’s “a populist and he saw another populist in Jacqui”. A party built solely around a populist was always going to come asunder. Even the ALP, founded more than 100 years ago on deep philosophical foundations, took a big hit when populist Kevin Rudd took the reins. A party whose only guiding idea is Palmer is destined for the scrap heap, eventually.

The summer break is a chance for Lazarus and Wang to reclaim their reputations by giving Palmer the heave-ho. Not because they are narcissistic populists like Lambie, but because they are the opposite: decent blokes whose names are getting trashed by Palmer’s antics.

Lazarus will always be known for his honourable track record as a team player. The former rugby league footballer has played for many teams, starting with NSW in the State of Origin in 1989, winning premierships while playing prop forward for Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. The Brick with Eyes, as Roy and HG named him, twice won the Player’s Player award on two Kangaroo tours. That record won’t be harmed by Lazarus leaving Palmer’s party.

Now look at Wang. The 33-year-old engineer born in Nanjing, China, to hardworking parents who did not finish high school, is a migrant success story. As he said in his maiden speech, he has learned to “always keep an open mind”. Extolling the virtue of humility, Wang said, “It is crucial that we humbly listen to all sides before a decision is made.”

Lazarus and Wang are the ­antithesis of a career politician or a Palmer-style media tart. They are regular blokes from outside the insular political class whose concerns and aspirations likely reflect those of many Australians.

That’s why they should cut loose from Palmer. It was bad enough when the shenanigans were just about Clive and his headline-grabbing sports cars; Clive calling the Chinese “mongrels” who shoot their own people; Clive and the police investigation under way in Western Australia and Queensland about the $12m he used from the Chinese bank account to bankroll his party; Clive claiming a political, media and police conspiracy against him; Clive walking off a TV set because he doesn’t want to answer tough questions (sticking it up the political class is fun at first but even his fans will start to wonder whether he’s got something to hide); Clive and his hurtful remarks about the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, blaming paid parental leave on her, even though she has revealed she cannot have children.

If they stay, Wang and Lazarus will inevitably be drawn deeper and more personally into Palmer’s likely comeuppance. It’s starting to happen with Lazarus. He is chairman of the embarrassingly conflicted and costly Senate inquiry into the Newman government. Palmer’s personal and toxic history with Newman in Queensland is well known. Palmer is in Canberra only because his influence in Queensland came to an end under Newman. Palmer sided with Labor to call the inquiry.

Then it was Lambie’s claims that Lazarus used stand-over tactics to get her to vote a certain way. The Tasmanian senator may have left PUP with a peacemaking tone towards Palmer, but it won’t last. Two egos that big will clash again.

It’s well known that Lambie joined PUP to get money to fund her election campaign. No doubt PUP funds helped Lazarus and Wang too. There’s nothing wrong with that. Lazarus’s wife, Tess Sanders, works for PUP. Nothing wrong with that. But PUP money comes at a high price. While a reputation as a decent bloke doesn’t pay the bills, at what point does that PUP money start costing Lazarus and Wang too much?

The two senators should salvage their reputation before it’s too late. Unlike Palmer and Lambie, Lazarus and Wang are not erratic. Their egos seem in check. As independent senators, they are better placed to spend the rest of their six-year terms pursuing the kind of grassroots issues that matter to them, far away from the taint that comes from being part of the unpredictable, self-indulgent, personality-driven politics of Palmer. When Palmer implodes it will be even more unsightly than the current shenanigans

It’s a shame that the rugby league legend didn’t take a leaf out of that other rugby league legend’s book. Mal Meninga announced his run for ACT politics on ABC radio in September 2001, then bolted for the door saying: “I’m buggered. I’m sorry … I have to resign.” Big Mal, the player who achieved so much in sport and widely respected as a good bloke, decided politics wasn’t his game.

Lazarus has said that the call from Palmer asking him to join Palmer’s team was “surreal and life-changing”. It’s only going to get more surreal and life-­changing. The longer Lazarus and Wang hang around, the larger will be the hit to their reputation.

If Lazarus and Wang can’t see that, maybe someone close, someone who cares about them, might offer some candid counsel about getting off the Palmer train wreck before it’s too late.

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