Palmer pours another $1.7 million into Qld election campaign
Clive Palmer’s private company Mineralogy has donated a further $1.7 million to the businessman’s United Australia Party as voting gets underway in the Queensland election.
Mineralogy has spent more than $3.7 million on the election campaign of Clive Palmer's United Australia Party. (Photo: ABC)
That brings Mineralogy’s total contribution to the party’s campaign since early September to $3,765,188 — more than the declared donations over the same period for both the LNP and Labor combined.
According to the Electoral Commission of Queensland’s public database, a number of Palmer’s private companies first started donating to Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party (CPUAP) from September 4 and were described as “salaries for staff working on CPUAP issues”.
The two biggest donations were from Mineralogy, which contributed $2 million on September 16 and the additional $1.7 million on October 16.
The party is running candidates in 50 electorates, but according to opinion polls is unlikely to come close to winning any seats.
Nevertheless, the CPUAP has been running election advertisements criticising Labor and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said she had no political relationship with Palmer or his party.
The Australian Electoral Commission is moving to deregister Palmer’s party federally on the grounds that it failed a membership test to determine whether the organisation has at least 500 members. Palmer is challenging the move in the Federal Court.
The legal stoush does not affect the party’s standing in the Queensland election.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland said there was no evidence to instigate deregistration proceedings at the state level.