The recurring irritant of Australian politics has returned

When Donald Trump was re-elected in November, the man Clive Palmer put in federal parliament saw his moment.

Senator Ralph Babet has been dubbed the “$100 million man”, in reference to the amount of money Palmer spent fielding candidates of his United Australia Party across the nation at the 2022 federal election to gain only one seat.

Within months of that election, the party had been deregistered federally – something of a surprise to its sole parliamentarian – but Trump’s return put wind in his sails. Posting a clip of internet misogynist Andrew Tate declaring that political “gatekeepers are losing their power”, Babet added: “In my house we say phaggot [sic], retard and n----r. We are sick of you woke ass clowns … No one cares what you think.”

Palmer, who over the years has repeatedly announced he is building a second version of the Titanic, has a new vessel for the 2025 election: a party called Trumpet of Patriots. While the motto of this set-up, “Honour Above All”, might not sit with talk of “woke ass clowns”, there is no question of whether Palmer is enthused by change in the United States. On the party’s website, “Australia needs Trump-like policies which only Trumpet of Patriots can deliver” is his mantra.

Those policies include: support for Trump’s stances on Ukraine and gender; calls to limit immigration; the rejection of special acknowledgment for First Nations peoples; a return to fossil fuels for power; and, of course, “draining the [Canberra] swamp”.

With some predicting the decline of the major-party duopoly and a new era of minority governments, perhaps it is not altogether surprising that a party should emerge which, instead of selectively cribbing from Trump as the Coalition under Peter Dutton has done, decides to go all in.

The Albanese government, and especially Special Minister of State Don Farrell, has pointed to the danger of a better-organised billionaire emerging one day as justification for its changes to the laws on political donations. Whether that is the correct response or simply an attempt to feather its own nest by shoring up the two-party model remains to be seen.

Palmer, the recurring irritant of Australian politics, is once again using his wealth to broadcast slogans on television, radio and the front pages of newspapers, where he plans to spend even more than the $100 million he spent last time on the bet that Australians are tired of the standard answers to political questions. Several newspapers have run Palmer’s advertisements, including this one.

The Newcastle Herald and The Australian newspapers both ran Palmer advertisements on Tuesday claiming “there are only two genders”. Later that day, The Newcastle Herald apologised for running the ad. The same ad appears on page one of The Age on Wednesday.

Clive Palmer at a press conference last month.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The claim in the advertisement, made without context or nuance, is simplistic and hurtful to many. Transgender Victoria has called on Palmer’s party to retract the “dangerous and hateful ad”, as reported by this masthead. The ad is an unhelpful and provocative contribution to the national discussion that this masthead does not endorse.

While it is not this company’s approach to censor political viewpoints in paid advertisements, The Age refuses to allow Palmer – or other billionaires and politicians – to avoid criticism and scrutiny by mounting an election campaign via unchallenged advertising slogans. We will continue to criticise and scrutinise in our editorial coverage, as we do today, throughout the election campaign.

Clive Palmer is a persistent wart on the foot of Australian politics. He just keeps coming back and distracting the nation from important work. But voters have seen through the dazzling publicity his money can buy before. Australians at the previous election showed they have the intelligence and moral fortitude to resist his sloganeering and attempts to buy electoral success. His efforts attracted just over 4 per cent of the national vote after a big-spending 2022 campaign.

For the nation’s sake, voters should reject his advances again at the forthcoming election.

Meanwhile, we urge the rest of our politicians to put down their trumpets and concentrate on Australia’s future.

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