Clive tipped to explain preference pact with LNP

CLIVE Palmer is expected to slam Bill Shorten today and reveal why he did a preference deal with the Coalition in a move that has been seized upon by Labor.

The former Federal MP is tipped to admit he will pay people to hand out his how-to-vote cards in a bid to maximise his chances of winning a Senate spot. Mr Palmer will be locked in as No.2 on the LNP’s Senate and House of Representatives how-to-vote cards.

But that will not apply in the seat of Fairfax, a seat that Mr Palmer held in 2013. Ted O’Brien, who now holds Fairfax, wanted Mr Palmer at No.4 on the ticket.

It is likely Mr Palmer will preference the LNP second on his how-to-vote cards and turn his high-spending election advertising against Labor.

It could give the LNP a better chance to win Herbert from Labor plus a number of LNP marginal seat holders.

However, it is not going all the Coalition’s way. Mr Palmer, who is facing charges and is accused of not paying Queensland Nickel workers, has become a distraction for Scott Morrison, who is likely to face more heat over the deal.

The Coalition point out that Labor had also tried to woo Mr Palmer, with its Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate Deborah O’Neill trying to get a deal with Mr Palmer.

“I’ve got candidates preferencing. Keen to talk ASAP,” she texted on Wednesday to one of Mr Palmer’s operatives.

Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek dismissed claims Labor was trying to do its own deal with Mr Palmer. “I don’t think a couple of SMSs is what you’d call a formal negotiation.”

PAULINE Hanson has unexpectedly thrown Scott Morrison a political lifeline by using her preferences to potentially save key conservative ministers and MPs.

In a shock move, the One Nation leader will today declare she will put “Australia first” by putting Labor MPs last on her how-to-vote cards in four key seats, helping sandbag Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Attorney-General Christian Porter, Member for Petrie Luke Howarth and former SAS soldier Andrew Hastie in Canning in WA.

Her political intervention is good news for the Morrison Government and comes on top of the preference deal done between the Coalition and Clive Palmer.

In 2016, One Nation placed sitting MPs last, which hurt the Coalition and contributed to the LNP losing Herbert and Longman.

Senator Hanson said voters owned their own preferences but she wanted them to make an informed decision on May 18, especially about MPs who had worked constructively with One Nation.