Clive Palmer Has Deregistered The United Australia Party … For Now
Goodbye, Clive Palmer. Goodbye, Clive Palmer. Goodbye.
Clive Palmer has deregistered the United Australia Party (UAP) after nearly four years operating under its current name.
But before you pull out the champas, a representative has threatened the party’s inevitable return — meaning we’ll once again see Palmer’s henchmen and their annoying text messages down the line.
The mining businessman and politician made the move last Thursday with the Australian Electoral Commission, citing “voluntary deregistration” under the Electoral Act. However, the only UAP member to get a leg up in May’s Federal Election, Senator Ralph Babet, is still allowed to represent the now-defunct party during the remainder of his term.
“Because I am a Senator, the party has a right to re-register at any time and in the meantime, we will not be directed by an unelected body of public servants under the control of government,” said Babet on Monday of his grievances with the AEC during the election.
“While the existing political parties seek to undermine us and spread rumours about our members, we remain loyal to the principles of our party,” he said. “I remain loyal to the party, its founder, and all that we stand for”.
Babet told the Sydney Morning Herald that the party would re-register before the next election — giving Palmer at least three years to recoup financially and otherwise.
“This has actually happened before. We do it in between the elections to save on the administration — the party is not going anywhere. It’s staying right where it is. The UAP is here forever.”
One major caveat is that once a party deregisters with the AEC, they can no longer use their former name under the Electoral Act, much like a deleted Tumblr URL. Palmer last faced this in 2017, when his former Palmer United Party emerged as the UAP we know and tolerate today, as reported by SBS.
Palmer himself has been eerily quiet during the proceeds, and the UAP has made no formal comment. Only time will tell when Australia will be forced to bear the next iteration of Palmer’s brainchild, and his garish yellow billboards.