From Crikey’s Bernard Keane:
Clive Palmer’s Palmer United Party is facing electoral oblivion, mere months from its key election test in Queensland, where the party was established as a vehicle for Palmer’s personal vendetta against the party he helped found and bankroll, the Liberal National Party.
State-based polling taken over four weeks in October by Essential Research showed that PUP had continued its freefall in public support in its home state, down to 5% in October after consistently losing 1-2 points every month for much of the year, having peaked at 12% in May. Nationally, PUP has been hovering at a dire 3-4% for two months, although as recently as August, it had managed 6%. In contrast to its performance in the 2013 election, PUP is no longer performing noticeably better in Queensland than elsewhere.
…What’s happened to Clive? For starters, the Palmer model has some problems built into it. Palmer’s approach to politics has been shark-like, not so much in terms of its ferocity as in the need to keep moving.
…there’s Jacqui Lambie, who has been busily differentiating her own product as a latter-day Pauline Hanson
…Meanwhile, the Coalition, which initially struggled with all this confusing “negotiation” stuff in the Senate, has worked Palmer out, realising that the mining magnate’s vociferous and colourful objections to its policies count for little when it comes to securing his support…
Whether it is the end of Clive, his raid upon the Australian legislature will go down as one of the greatest rent-seeking coups of all time. Buy the senate, rid yourself of the carbon and mining taxes, and leave…
