Text pest Palmer vows to carry on

FORMER politician Clive Palmer has dubbed his unsolicited text campaign a success — despite receiving more than 3000 complaints from the 5.6 million Australian voters he contacted, including many in Tasmania.

The United Australia Party founder — who wants to return to Canberra — wouldn’t reveal yesterday the cost of the campaign or how he accessed the phone numbers, but he insisted further texts would be sent out.

A text sent to people in Tasmania from “CliveUAP” said: “Pay 20% less tax in Tasmania. Give Tasmania the edge for growth. Vote 1 United Australia Party, Clive Palmer”.

“We had an outstanding successful result ... it went out to 5.6 million mobile phones with 280,000 people contacting our party website (as a result),” Mr Palmer said in Sydney, while launching a new political game phone app.

The Australian Electoral Commission last week said Mr Palmer had not breached the Electoral Act in sending the texts, and said political parties were generally not required to adhere to the Spam Act, the Do Not Call Register Act or the Privacy Act.