John Oliver’s savage Palmer takedown

Mining billionaire Clive Palmer has copped an absolute roasting in John Oliver's latest rant about the Australian election.

John Oliver's savage Palmer takedown.

British late-night host John Oliver is known for his regular brutal takedowns of politicians around the world.

And in his latest episode of Last Week Tonight, our very own Clive Palmer was in the comedian's firing line.

Oliver started his Australian segment by roasting all the candidates who have dropped out of the election in recent weeks over various controversies, including One Nation's Steve Dickson and Ross Macdonald and Labor's Luke Creasey.

He then went on: "But perhaps the most eye-catching candidate is Clive Palmer, head of his own United Australia Party."

He compared Mr Palmer to US president Donald Trump, describing the mining billionaire as a "brash businessman pushing a populist anti-establishment post".

Oliver then played the infamous footage of Mr Palmer's explosive Today Show rant last week, in which he touted his extraordinary wealth and declared he doesn't "give a stuff" what people think about him.

"That's all pretty Trumpy right there," said Oliver, after the footage was played. "Arrogance? Check. Red tie? Check. He even has billboards with his campaign slogan 'Make Australia Great', which notably doesn't say 'Make Australia Great Again'.

With a mock-Australian accent, he said: "Let's not rewrite history, we are and always have been a great big baking rock full of impossibly huge spiders, let's go up from here! Make Australia Great for the first time!"

He then drudged up some notorious moments from Mr Palmer's political past.

"Clive Palmer has positioned himself as a political outsider despite the fact that he was elected before in 2013 and became a joke for being the most absent politician two years in a row," said Oliver.

He then showed a picture of Mr Palmer falling asleep in parliament, adding: "And this moment where he fell asleep in parliament or realised he had to actually govern instead of just playing possum until the next election saga."

Watch the segment below.

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