Your nightly viewing of Saiorse Ronan’s favourite reality TV show (Married At First Sight Australia) has likely been interrupted by the billionaire mining magnate and political figure Clive Palmer telling you that “Australia needs Trump policies”.
These ads have already started airing with increasing frequency ahead of the federal election (Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is yet to call it and set a date, but popular opinion is that he’ll do so in the next fortnight). In them, Palmer, leaning on the lectern with his yellow tie gleaming, informs us “Peter Dutton has stated he’s no Donald Trump and we agree with him,” before giving a rather unconvincing impersonation of the convicted felon and current US President. Like Trump, Palmer doesn’t really say anything with this speech, beyond repeating that “We respect all Australians” and “We need to respect all people who made Australia what it is today. A wonderful country…all Australians are equal.” Sure, Clive, and?
It thus begs the question of whether Trump’s extremist nationalism and separatism will influence the upcoming Australian federal election. Is Clive Palmer Australia’s answer to Trump?
In short: he wishes.
Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that in the ads, Palmer’s title is listed as the ‘Chairman of Trumpet of Patriots’ (italics ours). That’s because after the 2022 election, Palmer deregistered his United Australia Party. His time was much better spent doing whatever it is he does than dealing with unnecessary administrative tasks involved in running a party (things like, say, financial disclosures). But Palmer didn’t listen to those who warned him that deregistering his party meant he’d be excluded from the opportunity to run for Parliament in 2025. And when he tried to challenge this by taking it to the High Court, they ruled against him.
Enter: the Trumpet of Patriots. Formed in 2021 by South Australian management consultant Nick Duffield, thanks to Palmer, it’s now being compared to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. When the High Court dashed Palmer’s chances of reviving the UAP, he joined ToP. Now, his campaign strategy is to copy Trump: reduce immigration, ban trans athletes, acknowledge only two genders, and cut government waste, for example.
Like Trump, Billionaire Palmer certainly has the cash to flash. In the 2019 election he spent $80 million on his campaign and nearly doubled that in 2022 when he threw in $120 million. Which is more than all the other parties combined. And he said he plans on spending $90 million in this upcoming federal election. But as we know, unlike Trump’s right-hand and unofficial vice president Elon Musk – who spent $US 277 million on Trump’s campaign – Palmer’s had a hard time paying his way to power and influence because there are two things he really struggles with: reading from a teleprompter, and knowing where to spend his money.
And even if he was smart with his money, it’s only going to get harder for Palmer to buy his way in. He’s supposedly going after the “Teals” in this election, which is weird because in 2022, he was barely a blimp on the radar in “Teal electorates”. He won just 2 per cent of votes in Wentworth, Goldstein, Curtin and North Sydney; 3 per cent in Mackellar; and a measly 1 per cent in Kooyong.
Making it even harder: recent legislation that will see political donations and expenditure capped for the first time received bipartisan support. From 2026, the maximum amount an individual donor can give to a candidate or political party will be capped at $20,000, and the threshold above which donations must be publicly disclosed will be $1000, down from $16,900.
So, unlike American politics – with its super PACs and shudder-inducing billionaires like Musk and Jeff Bezos who are able to pour in as much money as they want to the candidate of their choosing – Australia is already safe-guarded from a potential oligarchy situation.
“If Trump has shown anything, it’s that democratic backsliding can happen anywhere”
– Courtney Thompson
Still, you wonder: will Palmer be able to convince Australians that they, too, need a government willing to take a ‘Trumpist’ approach? Well, you want to know the reason Dutton has said “he’s no Donald Trump”? Because Australians generally don’t vibe with Trump’s extremism. According to an Essential Poll held before the US election, only 29 per cent of Australians said they would vote for him as candidate for president.
Which isn’t to say we’re immune from what happens in America, or that Australians don’t resonate with some of Trump’s populist messages. The cost-of-living crisis, increasing disaffection with housing affordability and belief that “ordinary citizens” are being left behind or outright ignored by the elite who populate the political establishment are all common themes in both contemporary American and Australian politics. Not only that, but we also know policy is impacted and politicians inspired by what happens in the States. For instance, ultra-conservative Liberal MPs in both South Australia and Queensland have been connected to attempts at re-criminalising abortion in Australia, no doubt influenced by the walking back of Roe vs. Wade in the US.
Really, though, Palmer (or any billionaire who believes they could do a better job than the professional pollies at running the country) will struggle to realise his Trumpian vision here for three main reasons, rooted in the institutions that uphold and safeguard Australian democracy. The first is compulsory voting. We’re very unlike America, where voter-suppression can run rampant and the party who convinces the most people to turn out wins. Compulsory voting has a moderating impact, making the spectrum more centre-right to centre-left.
The Westminster style-government also makes it difficult for figures like Palmer to gain real traction because you need to be voted by the party to be leader, and thus, Prime Minister. And finally, the Australian Electoral Commission also stymies Palmer’s cause. The AEC is legitimate and completely apolitical. Electorates are drawn according to population swings, not political preferences. Votes are counted in all the states the same way and registration to vote is the same for those in Far North Arnhem Land as it is for the people on St Georges Road in Toorak. All these things make exercising the kind of authoritarian executive power that Trump has in America very difficult in Australia.
But if Trump has shown anything, it’s that democratic backsliding can happen anywhere. So we shouldn’t take the architecture of our government for granted. When Albanese finally calls the 2025 election, Palmer’s ToP assault will intensify and we shouldn’t ignore them. They should be a reminder to have tough conversations and stay vigilant in the ongoing fight to protect democracy. If Palmer and his ilk prevail, we’ll have much bigger problems than the airheads on MAFS.
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Courtney Thompson