SORTING THE FACT FROM THE SPIN IN CLIVE PALMER'S NATIONAL PRESS CLUB ADDRESS
0Sorting the fact from the spin in Clive Palmer's National Press Club address
Following the handing down of the budget. chairman of the United Australia Party and the party's treasury spokesman Clive Palmer appeared at the National Press Club to present the party's economic plan ahead of the election. But Mr Palmer did not stay only on the topic of the economy. veering into claims about COVID 19. lockdowns. superannuation. a federal integrity commission and even his party's membership. With so many claims flying in one speech. it's difficult to sort the fact from the spin. Here's your cheat sheet on how to understand some of the key claims from Mr Palmer's address. Largest political party? It's apples and oranges In support of his party's credentials. Mr Palmer told the Press Club the United Australia Party was 'now Australia's largest political party'. It's not the first time the UAP has made such a claim. In an October 2021 press release. Mr Palmer gave further context. explaining the claim was made on the basis of party membership. 'The United Australia Party's membership base has surged past 70.000. making it the largest political party in Australia.' he said. A month later. Mr Palmer said UAP membership had reached 80.000. The Australian Electoral Commission told Fact Check it was unable to verify Mr Palmer's claim as 'electoral legislation as it stands does not empower the AEC to audit the membership of Parliamentary parties.' But whatever the number. Graeme Orr. who specialises in electoral law at the University of Queensland. told Fact Check that memberships of the UAP membership and other mainstream political parties were simply not comparable. 'Mr Palmer would say that in the past year. on the back of [vaccine] and lockdown scepticism and the 'freedom' slogan. he has now attracted lots of members.' Professor Orr said. 'That is more a post modern model of a party with lots of registered supporters. paying $0 'membership'. forming an email list around a contemporary issue (rather than an ideology or social class).' In order to join the UAP. members are only required to fill out an online form providing their details. In contrast. to join the ranks of the Labor Party. members must join via their local state branch and pay an annual fee. In Victoria. for example. this can cost up to $225 a year. Similarly. membership in the NSW division of the Liberal Party for a single adult costs $100. 'VIP' party patron members are charged up to $990 a year. Minor parties such as the Greens and One Nation also charge a membership fee. A federal first? To bolster his party's credentials on frontrunning policy. Mr Palmer claimed his party was the first to raise the idea of a federal integrity commission. He said that former Palmer United Party senator Dio Wang 'in 2013 was the first person to introduce the idea of a federal ICAC'. But that flies in the face of history. The Greens had already introduced legislation to establish an integrity commission three times before the senator even joined the parliament in mid 2014. with former Greens leader Bob Brown having also called on the government to establish such a body in 2009. The first parliamentary reference Fact Check has been able to find of former senator Wang promoting the idea of a federal anti corruption commission was in early 2016. As he himself declared in the first line of that address: 'Proposals for a national integrity or anti corruption agency in Australia date back to the 1980s.' 'The government itself has also spent the past few years talking about the need for a corruption watchdog and I acknowledge members of all political parties who have advocated publicly or privately for such an agency.' then Senator Wang added. A super claim Mr Palmer is a longstanding critic of Australia's compulsory superannuation regime. At the Press Club. he repeated a familiar claim. 'We know through experience that just over 50 per cent of Australians ever receive their super because they die in the meantime'. Read more In 2014...
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