Media release
Federal leader of the Palmer United Party and member for Fairfax, Clive Palmer, has called on Glenn Lazarus to follow the lead of Cheryl Kernot and resign his Senate seat.
Mr Palmer said resigning from the Senate would be the honourable thing for Mr Lazarus to do.
“What we are now witnessing with Mr Lazarus is misleading and deceptive conduct,” Mr Palmer said.
“Prior to the 2013 Senate election Mr Lazarus said he would be part of the Palmer United Party and lead our team. We believe he has made promises to the party and the electorate of Queensland.”
Mr Palmer said Queenslanders had voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Palmer United Party and not Mr Lazarus.
“The Palmer United Party received 251,349 ‘above the line’ Senate votes while just 6,770 votes went to Mr Lazarus personally,” he said.
“Clearly voters put the mandate of the party before any individual. Mr Lazarus has not done his duty in upholding the ideals of the party, he has let down not only the Palmer United Party but also the voters who trusted and elected him.
“The Palmer United Party invested millions of dollars and our party members worked extremely hard to get Mr Lazarus elected based on promises he made to us and the electorate. We have all been betrayed.
“The party believes Mr Lazarus should have done the honourable thing and resigned, leaving the position vacant rather than retaining his Senate seat and enjoying the power and taxpayer-funded perks that go with it.
“In 1997 Cheryl Kernot resigned her senate seat when she left the Democrats to join Labor, drawing praise for her conduct.
“Australians are sick and tired of politicians making broken promises in the lead up to elections and then breaking them once they take their seats in Parliament.
“In Mr Lazarus’ case he made major promises and the Palmer United Party acted in good faith to support him, now he has broken these promises after receiving the benefits from the party.”
ENDS