A United Australia Party Candidate Is Planning To Sue His Own Party

A United Australia Party (UAP) candidate has threatened to sue the party for allegedly failing to reimburse his election campaign costs.

Jamal Daoud, who ran for Reid in the Federal Election, said he was “in the process of suing … to demand the party to repay us thousands of dollars it owes us as election material expenditure” on Thursday. The Facebook post also claimed he was considering a class action against the UAP, attempting to rally candidates in the same position to outcry what he describes as “the party’s mismanagement”.

“Running for the United Australia Party proved to be the most difficult task in the country,” said Daoud in a fundraiser he set up to balance his losses. “Not only I was physically and emotionally challenged and exhausted. Now the party is asking me to meet some (if not the most) cost of the campaign materials”.

He claimed that his prospective seat did not receive any support from the UAP until April — in comparison to other candidates receiving thousands of corflute signs, hats, and t-shirts — forcing him to source and organise his own in the interim.

“The cost of design and printing was around $6200,” he said. “United Australia Party refuses to pay this amount as ‘they did not approve the printing’.”

However, UAP candidate for Grayndler, David Smith, told The Guardian that Daoud’s struggles were not shared, suggesting he was “biting the hands that feed him”.

Candidate for Parramatta, Julian Fayad, agreed, sharing with the outlet that the “party was quite generous”. “Yes, we would’ve liked more spending on our electorates. But Daoud spent money that was not authorised. If anyone else did that, they’d be in the same position,” said Fayad.

It was revealed in June that UAP Chairman Clive Palmer spent over $31 million on advertising directed at voters during the six-week election campaign, alongside an additional and separate $31 million in the six months prior to the official start date of campaigning, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

In the end, the party — running on an anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination platform — ended up with no seats in the House of Representatives, and one seat in the Senate for Victoria. Palmer also made cries of “electoral fraud” after May’s results, without substantiating his claims.

Reid was won by Labor’s Sally Sitou, claiming 55.2 percent of the vote, while Daoud managed to scramble together 2.6 percent.

Junkee reached out to the UAP for comment.