By Tita Smith For Daily Mail Australia and Tess Ikonomou For Australian Associated Press
Published: 17:47 AEST, 22 May 2022 | Updated: 18:35 AEST, 22 May 2022
Billionaire Clive Palmer somehow wins NO lower house seats despite a six month election campaign and renting out what felt like EVERY billboard in Australia… and Craig Kelly lost
- United Australia Party (UAP) failed to win any House of Representatives seats
- Clive Palmer’s far-right group spent almost $100million on its election campaign
- There are now only one or two senate spots up for grabs for UAP in QLD and VIC
Billionaire Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party failed to win any seats in the House of Representatives despite an almost $100 million six-month election campaign.
The mining magnate’s advertising blitz proved fruitless on Saturday as his party fizzled with a national primary vote of just 4.3% and Liberal-defector-turned-UAP -leader Craig Kelly was ousted from his seat of Hughes.
However the party is likely to have one or two senators elected, with Ralph Babet leading in the count for Victoria’s sixth and final Senate position, and Michael Arbon in contention in a tight race for the last Senate position from South Australia.
Palmer ran UAP candidates in all lower house seats this year and had touted Mr Kelly as the future prime minister of Australia during his party’s campaign.
The disastrous results are a far cry from predictions, with experts fearing Palmer’s exorbitant advertising spend would threaten democracy by giving him a massive upper hand to beat both major parties.
