PUP leader Clive Palmer has made a grovelling apology to the Chinese for his extraordinary outburst on television, in which he referred to them as “bastards” and “mongrels”. In a letter to the Chinese…
Clive Palmer’s televised tirade has unleashed a torrent of criticism from across the political spectrum.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The Chinese embassy lashed out at Clive Palmer’s extraordinary attack on Chinese “mongrels” and “bastards”, as a PUP senator went further than her leader, suggesting they might invade Australia. Palmer’s…
Clive Palmer may have all sorts of motives but one surely is to drive Tony Abbott to distraction. As Palmer put it on Monday, after sending Joe Hockey’s chief of staff Grant Lovett on his way to do more…
Queensland premier Campbell Newman needs to sell substantive policy change as well as a change in personal branding if he is to be successful at the next election.
AAP/Dave Hunt
The result in Saturday’s Stafford byelection in Queensland was entirely expected. Since the electorate was re-established before the 2001 election, Stafford had remained a safe seat for Labor. That was…
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey is facing the prospect of a budget blowout, thanks largely to a hostile Senate.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Charis Palmer, The Conversation and Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation
The Conversation has undertaken a stocktake of the major budget savings measures opposed, at risk, or yet to be legislated. According to our analysis, which has been verified by Grattan Institute chief…
Ross Garnaut says Australia is becoming a drag on the international climate effort.
Joe Castro/AAPIMAGE
Ross Garnaut was the architect of the Labor government’s carbon pricing scheme, which looks likely to be scrapped this week despite last week’s brinkmanship in the Senate. The Conversation asked Professor…
With Clive Palmer’s support, the carbon tax should be repealed this week.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The government has adjusted, in consultation with PUP, Clive Palmer’s amendment to the carbon tax repeal legislation as it tries again to expedite terminating the tax. The amendment, to ensure power companies…
The government found itself in a bind in the Senate because of Clive Palmer and his PUPs.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The first sitting week of the new Senate has been a humbling experience for a government often too cocky for its own good. After fighting desperately to have the carbon tax scrapped by Thursday, a last-minute…
In the media spotlight: Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer outside the Senate chamber at Parliament House this week.
Lukas Coch/AAP
If you heard Clive Palmer and his Palmer United senators say today that they will only scrap the carbon tax with stronger rules to protect consumers, you might have thought they sounded quite fair and…
Friend to the battlers: Clive Palmer says he’ll oppose the repeal of a superannuation top up scheme for low incomes earners.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The low income superannuation contribution is rapidly becoming a case study in the perils of linking unrelated policy initiatives. The scheme, a federal government contribution of up to $500 to people…
Clive Palmer will support the direct action plan if the government supports his ETS.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Clive Palmer has widened the budget measures his party will oppose in the Senate to include the government’s attempt to abolish the schoolkids bonus. Appearing at the National Press Club, Palmer also flagged…
Senator Ricky Muir is seeking a good working relationship with the Coalition government.
AAP/Alan Porritt
As senators prepare for tomorrow’s swearing in, Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir’s strong message to the government is that he’s prepared to help it if it helps him. Muir has a formal alliance…
Ever since Clive Palmer announced that the Palmer United Party (PUP) would support the retention of the Renewable Energy Target (RET), The Australian and News Corp’s tabloids have really ramped up their…
If Clive Palmer wants one thing and his new bloc of senators another, then the Palmer United Party may find itself less united than its name suggests.
AAP/Paul Miller
A soldier, an engineer and a rugby league player walk into federal parliament. It sounds like the opening line of a bawdy joke, or the premise of a reality TV show. But on July 1, three senators from the…
The presence of Al Gore with Clive Palmer raised eyebrows, but demonstrated Palmer’s political acumen.
Clive Palmer has been an easy target for some to lampoon, but this week he has proved himself to be a shrewd political operator. Who would have guessed that Palmer would forge a partnership with a former…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott treated PUP leader Clive Palmer with disdain when he was sniffing around for Liberal National Party preselection, now he needs his party’s support in the Senate.
AAP/Jeffrey Chan
Tony Abbott will be in Melbourne this weekend to address the Liberal federal council. The timing is unfortunate. A Newspoll has just shown the Victorian Coalition would lose badly in an election held now…
Clive Palmer announced his climate policy at a press conference with former US vice president Al Gore last night.
AAPImage/Alan Porritt
In a surprising announcement last night Clive Palmer promised to abolish Australia’s current carbon price, and block the coalition’s Direct Action policy. But Palmer has said he will vote to retain the…
What on earth was Al Gore, a zealot on climate change, doing celebrating a Palmer carbon policy that’s worse than what Australia has in place, although not as bad as it could have been? That remains a…
What is little known about coal baron and federal MP Clive Palmer is his interest in world affairs – and his adulation of the great American president John F Kennedy, and interest in US politics in general…
Former US Vice President Al Gore and PUP leader Clive Palmer announcing Palmer’s stance on the carbon tax.
AAP/Alan Porritt
In a spectacular joint appearance with former Vice President Al Gore, Clive Palmer has announced PUP will vote to repeal the carbon tax but seek to set up a shell emissions trading scheme that could be…