If you ever doubted Paul McCartney’s Can’t Buy Me Love, just look to Clive Palmer, the big-talking, big-spending chairman of the United Australia Party (UAP).
He might be running the most expensive election campaign in Australian political history, but to what end? Millions and millions and millions of dollars wasted — and that just proves another adage: more money than sense.
Palmer looks like he believes it when he says the party’s goal is to see Craig Kelly elected prime minister. That cannot happen — it is not possible. Palmer knows that, and it would be hard to find someone in the nation who would believe it. But his whole tenor — from the hodgepodge of candidates choosing to run under the UAP banner to the advertising spree he’s embarking on — is to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
We should not allow it.
Palmer and his oversized, no-frills road signs adding graffiti to highways across the nation cannot Make Australia Great. But he can create fear at a time when many people are scared.
And he is able — with impunity — to scream false slogans that run counter to all scientific health advice, muddying the water for those turned off by politics, and giving hope to the anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.
The message spun by the UAP is simple: our freedom has been stolen and we are prisoners in our own homes; mandatory vaccinations are an outrageous affront to our democratic rights and should be outlawed; our jobs have been decimated by lockdowns that have served no other real purpose; the army has no role to play in our fight against this pandemic.
But rich and loud doesn’t mean true, and the UAP’s current advertising spend — reportedly 100 times more than the two major political parties — should not be allowed. It’s dangerous. It’s fanciful. It is aimed at spreading fear. But by some quirk of democracy, it’s allowed.
How many more elections are we going to tolerate a multibillionaire with limited regard for the truth marauding through the country? His spending means nothing to his deep pockets — and yet we are swamped in laws that force every few thousand dollars citizens donate to the political process to be declared.
Will we eventually be able to regulate truth in political advertising the same way as all other advertising? Who is going to act on this? Palmer says his activity delivers votes to the Coalition — but does it? Or does it just distract from its ability to deliver more nuanced messages?
If Palmer cares so much for the future of our nation, why doesn’t he — and the rest of them — support a supertax on their excessive earnings from mining, technology or anything else? Or perhaps we’d just settle for paying tax at the same rate as middle-income earners?
Palmer’s impact on Canberra is likely to be small. But the impact on those desperate for hope might not be. It plays like a game to him, and that’s offensive.
His life will not change the morning after the election. The pipeline of cash he’s subscribed to will just continue, making up the millions he’s poured into advertising.
The Beatles were staying in Paris’ flash Hotel George V when McCartney dreamed up Can’t Buy Me Love. Stories have it that an upright piano was even wheeled in to his suite to make the songwriting easier. The pressure was on, because I Want to Hold Your Hand had just reached No. 1 in America.
Palmer has money to burn, and an ambition he knows he’ll never reach. He can stay in hotel suites until the cows come home — but his money is unlikely to buy much love, and we should encourage everyone to refrain from holding his hand.
I think a cap on campaign spending per candidate should be enforced and campaign advertising restricted to the period between the election being officially called and the election itself.
Also, many of Palmer’s ads are false because he is described as “Senate Leader” for the UAP, which is difficult to do when he isn’t in the Senate.
The AEC or federal government need to legislate laws that curb the amount of money party’s can spend on elections. Whilst there’re at it, they can hand out massive fines to party’s spruiking misinformation and outright lies.
Agree!
Hanson and Palmer, both should be non events!
“ Palmer says his activity delivers votes to the Coalition — but does it? Or does it just distract from its ability to deliver more nuanced messages?”
Nuanced messages?! The Coalition?! The Coalition Prime Minister called the Leader of the Opposition the Manchurian Candidate, FFS! And kept it up after public rebukes from ASIO!
Nuanced messages? From a Prime Minister who lies and lies about lying? Palmer’s lies this time round find little traction with most of the electorate. Palmer’s lies last time round are being recycled this time round by the bloody Coalition!
Or are you going to tell me Clive Deep Pockets and his antivax nonsense have forced Morrison to play chicken with national security and the electorate’s trust in democracy itself, Madonna?
Kathy, the thing is that Palmer only needs to find traction with a couple of percent of the population to influence the outcome of the election. Given that 5% of the adult population refuses to be vaccinated, there is fertile ground for his mantra of ‘freedom, freedom, freedom’.
Although, I have to confess, I do look forward to being able to walk around the streets naked while carrying my semi-automatic weapon of choice; ignore all speed restrictions while driving – indeed not even having to have a driver’s licence or vehicle registration; being able to say what I want about anyone, including Palmer, without fear of being sued.
Clive Palmer is a glitch on the graph a heammhroid on the backside of society. His one son is hiding from authorities over here and hidibg in Bulgaria.
Says a lot about Palmer himself and gor what he represents
Clive Mensink is Clive Palmer’s nephew.
His son is Michael Palmer and he’s not in hiding, he’s in Queensland, buying up Fig Tree Pocket properties with his father, or attempting to.
You are correct,but either way it is endemic in the family tree