Politics

Clive Palmer’s Trying To Make His Return To Politics With The Slogan “Make Australia Great”

The Parliament House sprinklers put a very literal dampener on his press conference.

by Sam Langford  18 June 2018
clive palmer

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

Local dropkick Clive Palmer has decided it’s high time to make his return to politics. He’s renamed the Palmer United Party the “United Australia Party”, which he promises will “make Australia great” — a totally original slogan we’ve never heard before.

The news that he’s planning on a comeback isn’t particularly surprising, given that the guy’s been putting up enormous fluorescent yellow billboards featuring his face and the words “make Australia great” for the past few months.

At the time his spokesman said those billboards had nothing to do with a political comeback and were just because Palmer was feeling patriotic, but come on, if he really loved his country he wouldn’t subject it to this:

Still, that graphic design is about the only original part of this rebrand. The United Australia Party was the name of a party that existed from 1931-1945, at which point the Liberal Party was created and the UAP members joined that instead. Palmer said yesterday that the UAP’s “re-establishment today marks a significant milestone in the history of Australian politics”, though what exactly is significant is unclear.

Palmer said the party intends to contest the next Federal election in both houses, and former One Nation senator Brian Burston has reportedly already signed up as a member, even though he told the Senate just this morning he’d be sitting as an independent. Why he thinks a guy who won’t pay his workers and runs a meme page that’s been real anti-semitic of late is his next best option is beyond us.

Anyway, in an omen of what’s to come for Palmer’s new party, apparently the sprinklers came on mid-press conference today and the whole soggy crew had to flee. Here’s a picture of the media quite literally sprinting away from the scene. If that doesn’t brighten your day, then that yellow backdrop certainly will.