Clive Palmer says his United Australia Party will preference Liberal and Labor last in the upcoming federal election, remaining tight-lipped about specifics.
Mr Palmer addressed the National Press Club on Thursday revealing he intended to spend $70 million in total on the upcoming federal election campaign.
Of this cash splash, he said he will spend another $40 million (in addition to the $30 million already spent) between now and the election.
The commitment follows Mr Palmer - who is chairman of the party - spending an estimated $83 million in the 2019 election on campaign advertising.
His party did not win a single seat in either house of parliament.
Clive Palmer and United Australia Party Member for Hughes Craig Kelly shake hands at the National Press Club in Canberra. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE
"From my personal perspective I think I would put the Greens ahead of Liberal and Labor because they haven’t been in government and they haven’t been responsible for this debt," he said.
“The debt we see has been causing the main problem in Australia.”
He also said the preferences weren’t a "clear-cut thing" and could vary, including giving higher preferences to MPs who had advocated against vaccine mandates.
His speech had focused on his party's economic policy concerns with Mr Palmer identifying the government’s rising debt levels and threat of rising home loan interest rates as key concerns.
He proposed setting a maximum cap on interest rates for housing loans of less than three per cent for the next five years to combat this concern.
But the press club address also veered into scrutiny of the United Australia Party’s rhetoric on COVID-19 vaccines and support for protests against vaccine mandates.
The unvaccinated billionaire also revealed he had taken a cocktail of drugs following his recent bout of COVID-19, which saw him hospitalised earlier this year.
The infection forced Mr Palmer to postpone his press club address.
Mr Palmer said personally he doesn’t believe vaccines have been a net benefit for the country.
He also said he believed Australians' access to treatments against COVID-19 had been limited by the requirements of medical regulators in the country.
"What's important is we have the vaccine, it's there, it's a reality. People are taking it. And there are people who are not taking it," he said.
"Either of them, if they get sick, we should treat them equally and try to treat them with compassion and we should try to give them treatments to help them."
The UAP’s only member in parliament Craig Kelly has been accused of spreading "seriously misleading" information about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Mr Kelly has described the TGA’s statement as "misleading and deceptive".
Mr Palmer was also asked about a decision by Mr Palmer to sign a far-right Russian nationalist - who has described Australia as an "enemy state" - into parliament.
Simeon Boikov was invited with a group representing the anti-vaccine protests engulfing the capital.
He described Australia as an "enemy state" in an interview with Russian media, saying he had a "unique opportunity" to support Moscow from within, Four Corners revealed in 2021.
Mr Boikov has also called for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to be "liquidated" during an interview with the ABC last year.
Mr Palmer said the man in question had been removed from the UAP party membership list.
"That particular individual has been expelled from our party for having those views," he said.
"His membership was terminated."
Mr Palmer was also asked about whether the party needed to secure a seat at the next election, or its campaign would be considered a failure.
"No necessarily but I think we will get seats," he said.
He defended pouring millions of dollars into his party’s political aspirations.
"What matters is not how much you spend, it’s what your solutions are," he said.
