From #IndependentAustralia
Read the full article here (paywalled):
https://independentaustralia.net/members-area/member-article-display/editorial-clive-palmer-emulates-musk-to-get-dutton-elected,19361
Sure, there’s a newly-elected madman loose in the Northern Hemisphere ranting about being “saved by god to make America great again”, but here in the South, we know an election is nigh when one of our homegrown nutbags appears to derail it.
As many tried to avoid Trump's inauguration by tuning in to the Australian Open this week, billionaire and chief election scammer Clive Palmer resurfaced to begin his tri-annual assault on the senses, this time with tales of woe and concern for Aussie battlers.
And in the process, Palmer's efforts may well help elect the Trumpist Peter Dutton as Australia's next prime minister.
Emulating the confected empathy and political strategy of fellow billionaires in the U.S., Palmer’s advertising blitz – commenced even before a confirmed Federal election date – was all about children going to bed hungry, the cost of living breaking families and offering “prayers” for our fellow poor Australians.
All very admirable, one might think, were it not for a couple of small details.
The first is that there would be decidedly fewer children going hungry if Palmer and his billionaire buddies – both here and elsewhere – reined in their greed just long enough to pay their employees equitably — or at all, in Palmer's case. The billionaire famously refused to pay retrenched workers their entitlements when his nickel refinery went broke back in 2016, after bankrolling his political party to the tune of $20 million.