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History was made at Brisbane’s exclusive Tattersall’s Club yesterday when guests of Clive Palmer were the first women to dine at the heritage-listed venue.

After being initially challenged by management, Mr Palmer, his daughter Emily Palmer and cousin Gabrielle Reilly, took their seats in the dining room and ordered French Champagne to celebrate.

“It was a nice vintage,’’ Mr Palmer said.

“It’s illegal not to allow women into a club, it’s against the human rights act to not allow women to dine in at a club,’’ Mr Palmer said.

Mr Palmer said he overheard some members speaking in an un-gentlemanly manner on encountering ladies in the dining room.

“An injustice to one women is an injustice to all women,’’ Mr Palmer said.

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Tattersall-Club_Palmer-Family

Licensed business broker Dani Rifai has been endorsed as the United Australia Party’s candidate for Shortland, NSW, for the 2019 Federal Election.

Dani has entered politics due to his frustration with the current two party duopoly which he says is failing everyday Australians.

“We have record high youth unemployment, more than 120,000 homeless Australians and a reduction in full-time work. It’s time for a change,’’ he said.

“The United Australia Party has supported the banking royal commission and many other policies that are in the best interest of Australians.”

Dani and his family reside in Hamlyn Terrace on the northern end of the Central Coast of NSW.

He started his working life building house frames and as a service station attendant before undertaking various university studies to work in sectors including tax accounting and human resource management.

He presently works as a business broker assisting small to medium size businesses in exit planning and selling their businesses.

Dani is a regular blood donor at the Red Cross and volunteers to coach and assist children in basketball and tutoring in mathematics.

He has completed the Gong Ride three times raising money for Multiple Scleroses which impacted his family with the loss of his sister in-law who suffered from the disease for 16 years until her passing.

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The United Australia Party has endorsed Peter Westcott as its candidate for the lower house West Australian seat of Cowan, Federal Leader Clive Palmer announced today.

Born and raised in Sydney, Mr Westcott has been a Perth resident for the past 25 years. He has been married to wife Marissa for 39 years and they have two children, Troy and Helen.

Mr Westcott was a plumber for 15 years and is now focussed on giving back to the community to improve the quality of life for future generations of Australians.

He volunteers at the Native Wildlife Rescue in Malaga and at Foodbank WA, opening the first suburban emergency food relief branch in Joondalup. There, he was involved with training volunteers, maintaining high quality food supplies and liaising with local charities to deliver food relief to the neediest families.

The Cowan electorate has been a swing seat in the northern suburbs of Perth, traditionally changing hands between Labor and Liberal parties, something Mr Westcott plans to change.

“I proudly support the United Australia Party to give our society hope and clear vision for a better future. I am so disillusioned with Labor and the Greens after being a long time voter that I decided it was time to change,’’ he said.

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The Federal Leader of the United Australia Party, Clive Palmer, announced today that the party executive had endorsed 42 candidates to contest NSW lower house seats in the 2019 Federal Election.

Mr Palmer said the party was interviewing further candidates for the few remaining NSW seats, to be announced in the coming weeks.

The endorsed United Australia Party divisions and candidates for NSW are: Barton – Ben Liu; Bennelong – Andrew Marks;  Berowra  – Ignatios Tsiriplis; Blaxland – Mohammed  Ashraf; Bradfield- Marcus Versace; Chifley – Joseph O’Conner; Cook – Bryan Wiseman; Cowper – Alexander Stewart; Cunningham – John McSweyn; Dobell – Aaron Harpley-Carr; Eden-Monaro- Chandra Singh ; Farrer- Mike Rose; Fowler – Joshua Jabbour; Gilmore – Milton Leslight; Grayndler –Paris King-Orsborn; Greenway – Fardin Nikjoo; Hughes -Terrance Keep; Hunter – Paul Davis; Kingsford-Smith – Adam Watson;  Lindsay – Christopher Buttel; Lyne – Garry Bourke; Macarthur -Nathan              Murphy; Mackellar – David Lyon; Macquarie – Tony Pettitt; McMahon – Giovanni Zappia; Mitchell – Mohanadas Balasingham; New England – Cindy Duncun; Newcastle – Geoff Scully; North Sydney – Peter Vagg; Page – John Mudge; Parkes – Petrus Van Der Steen; Parramatta – Ganesh Loke; Paterson – Graham Burston; Reid- Mohammed Yasin; Richmond – Hamish Mitchell; Riverina – Richard Foley; Robertson – Robert Marks; Shortland – Dani Rifai; Sydney – Adam Holt; Watson- Jason Cornelius; Wentworth – Michael Bloomfield and Werriwa – Ho Khoo.

“We are hearing very clearly that people are sick of the same-old, same-old from Liberal and Labor,” Mr Palmer said.

“For the first time Australia has real choice instead of the duopoly that Liberal and Labor have created by voting together to keep other alternatives out of the Federal parliament.

“The established parties talk about helping the country but all they’ve ever done is stifle political alternatives,” Mr Palmer said.

“Unlike them, the United Australia Party is not comprised of career politicians. We are a party made up of genuine Australians who want to serve the country, to change the course of history and steer in a bright new era for Australia.

“Hardworking Australians are looking for an effective alternative and that alternative is the United Australia Party. We will provide the strong leadership, the vision, the policies and the plan to make Australia great,’’ Mr Palmer said.

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Federal Leader of the United Australia Party, Clive Palmer, has announced the appointment of tourism executive and highly-experienced management professional with the federal government, Phil na Champassak as the party’s Tasmanian campaign director.

Currently owner of a boutique hotel and a property developer in Penguin, Phil has been actively engaged in community work in northwest Tasmania. He once held directorship to the board of the Cradle Coast Tourism Executive and is a founding director of Switch Tasmania, formerly known as the Cradle Coast Innovation Inc.

Formerly a diplomat and DFAT policy analyst, Phil has worked on trade, aid, public diplomacy, consular, international security and bilateral relations with PNG, the US, and NZ, and was most recently DFAT State Director for Tasmania.

He has previously worked for the UN Development Programme in New York, West Africa and PNG.

Phil also served as election monitor to the first elections in Cambodia (1992) and South Africa (1994) and was a peace monitor in Bougainville (2002). He has contributed to publications on human rights, election monitoring and UN issues.

He was awarded the Australian Service Medal (Bougainville) in June 2003.

Phil is very much looking forward to his role as the UAP’s campaign manager for Tasmania, saying more and more Australians were turning to independents and the smaller parties as a way of showing their dissatisfaction with the two-party duopoly.

He says unlike the Liberals or Labor, the UAP is not made up of professional politicians for life, but rather ordinary Australians wishing to do their civic duty and contribute to the welfare of the nation.

“The United Australia Party can provide a platform that the Liberals and ALP cannot. The way forward is to unite all Australians, not continue to divide them,’’ he said.

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The United Australia Party has endorsed former WA parliamentarian Honourable Anthony Fels as its candidate for the lower house seat of O’Connor, Federal Leader Clive Palmer announced today.

Returning with renewed vigour after a 10 year break from politics, Mr Fels was Liberal Shadow Minister for Fair Trading and the Midwest, later becoming an Independent Upper House MP.

Born and raised in Esperance, he also worked as a manager with the Primary Industry Bank of Australia looking after the O’Connor region and Esperance. Mr Fels has been a long-time advocate for honest and open government with a proven track record in representing regional businesses and the people of O’Connor.

He has experienced first-hand the ups and downs of agriculture, particularly wool cycles, wheat quotas, new land development in the 1960s and 1970s plus financial crunches with banks squeezing already struggling small businesses.

Mr Fels raised a young family as a single parent and is a keen supporter of small business, farming, free enterprise, and the freedom to choose. He is particularly proud of Halo – Helping All Little Ones – an organization he helped to establish to raise awareness of the many issues to which children are vulnerable.

“I proudly support the United Australia Party as the foundation of the Menzies Liberal Party before the recent fiascos and demise of the Liberals since John Howard.

“I will strive for Western Australia to get a permanent and fair share of the GST and stop the Canberra rip-off,’’ he said.

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The Federal Leader of the United Australia Party, Clive Palmer, announced today that the party executive had endorsed 17 candidates to contest Queensland lower house seats in the 2019 Federal Election.

Mr Palmer said the party was interviewing further candidates for the remaining Queensland seats, to be announced in the coming weeks.

The United Australia Party candidates endorsed so far in Queensland are Majella Zimpel (Blair), Simon Flitcroft (Bonner), Shane Clarke (Bowman), Lindsay Sturgeon (Capricornia), Colin Thompson (Dawson), Stephen Austin (Dickson), Mara Krischker (Fadden), Jacob Rush (Flynn), Paul Creighton (Forde), Christian Julius (Griffith), Susan Bertuch (Kennedy), Jeanette Sackley (Leichhardt), Bailey Maher (Longman), Fiona Mackenzie (McPherson), Garry Eilola (Moncrieff), Carl Grading (Moreton), Shyamal Reddy (Rankin).

“We are hearing very clearly that Australians are sick of the same-old, same-old from Liberal and Labor,” Mr Palmer said.

“For the first time Australia has real choice instead of the duopoly that Liberal and Labor have created by voting together to keep other alternatives out of the Federal parliament.

“The established parties talk about helping the country but all they’ve ever done is stifle political alternatives,” Mr Palmer said.

“Unlike them, the United Australia Party is not comprised of career politicians. We are a party made up of genuine Australians who want to serve the country, to change the course of history and steer in a bright new era for Australia,’’ he said.

“Hardworking Australians are looking for an effective alternative and that alternative is the United Australia Party. We will provide the strong leadership, the vision, the policies and the plan to make Australia great,’’ Mr Palmer said.

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Secure jobs through a fairer tax system, downstream mineral processing in Australia, tax-deductable home loans, lower power prices and support for the bush were at the heart of the UAP’s plan for a better Australia, Assistant NSW State Director, Suellen Wrightson, announced today.

“All Australians want to enjoy a better lifestyle and look ahead to a brighter future for their family,’’ Ms Wrightson said.

“We need bold new ideas to stimulate our economy, drive growth and increase revenue. The United Australia Party has the policies to make Australia great,’’ she said.

Mrs Wrightson said the UAP would turbo charge the economy by overhauling the way taxes were paid to ensure businesses and contractors were given the help they needed to succeed.

“We need to expand domestic demand and we can stimulate the economy by changing the way tax is paid by companies.

“Instead of paying tax in advance, based on an estimate of figures, we should allow companies to pay tax based on their actual figures at the end of the year after they have made the money.”

Ms Wrightson said this measure would result in more than $70 billion being released into the economy.

“Each time $70 billion is spent, the government gets 10% GST. That’s an extra $7 billion in revenue for schools, hospitals and infrastructure,’’ she said.

She said the UAP would also create jobs and generate more revenue by encouraging the use of the mineral resource wealth of Western Australia and Queensland to support downstream manufacturing in states and territories that don’t have those resources.

“Japan has become the world’s third largest economy by processing Australian resources.  The cost of energy is more expensive in Japan and Japan suffers from the tyranny of distance. Wages are also higher, yet Australia sells its mineral ores at a low price per tonne and Japan sells final products for 10,000 more.

“Processing Australian resources at home will create jobs, increase exports and provide a higher standard of living,’’ Ms Wrightson said.

Encouraging home ownership and lessening the strain on families by reducing power prices are other key United Australia Party policies.

“We propose to make home loans tax deductible to encourage home ownership and boost the construction industry.

“The best life for Australians is a happy family life. The United Australia Party will help Australian families by reducing power prices. We will order a state-by-state review of the power company infrastructure loans we’re all paying for,’’ Ms Wrightson said.

The UAP would also support long-neglected regional Australians with zonal taxation incentives and greater support for farmers in times of natural disaster and hardship.

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Federal Leader of the United Australia Party, Clive Palmer, said today that cyber-attacks by China on Australian political parties were nothing new.

Mr Palmer said that in 2013 he received confirmation from the police that the former Palmer United Party had been hacked by the Chinese.

“What we are witnessing now with the Liberal and Labor parties being hacked is a continuation of what happened to us. It is an ongoing serious threat to Australia and our democracy,’’ Mr Palmer said.

“This is a major concern for our political stability and our economy.

“The Chinese interfering so obviously, on top of the major donations to being made to political parties, is an attempt to infiltrate our country from all angles.

“Australia needs to protect Australia and stop this interference now,’’ Mr Palmer said.

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The United Australia Party has endorsed candidates for the Victorian lower house seats of Gellibrand, Kooyong, Goldstein, Menzies and Hotham, Federal Leader Clive Palmer announced today.

The candidates are life coach Lisa Bentley (Gellibrand); business owners Steven D’Elia (Kooyong) and Wayne Connolly (Goldstein); aged care worker Brett Fuller (Menzies) and machine operator Jin Luan (Hotham).

Married with two young boys, Lisa Bentley, has lived in the Gellibrand electorate for more than 40 years, running as an independent in the 2018 Victorian election for the seat of Williamstown.

She completed a Bachelor of Social Science in 2012, was employed as Career Pathways Coach for two years at Brentwood Secondary College after completing 250 hours of placement and later opened a life coaching business as a sole proprietor in Williamstown.

Lisa has been actively involved in the community as a volunteer youth football coach and is a member of multiple sporting organisations.

Steven D’Elia trained as a sign-writer and started business at 20 years old, performing work for clients including the National Tennis Centre, Stockland Developments and various other corporate and commercial companies.

Currently involved in small business coaching, he also believes in giving back to the community and has undertaken several volunteer roles including foster care, Make-A-Wish Foundation and most recently took time off to teach EFL English to students in Indonesia and Russia.

“I am excited to join the United Australia Party and stand up for everyday day Australians who are being neglected by the major parties,’’ he said.

Married with a young son and with another child on the way, Wayne Connolly has worked hard in the local area his whole life, running small businesses and working in telecommunications and IT.

He is an avid start-up investor and educator with B.Sc. of Chemistry and a Graduate Certificate in Computing Systems.

A long-time printing machinist, Brett Fuller changed his career path in 2006 becoming a personal care attendant with Estia Health.

Married with three sons, the Ferntree Gully resident has strong family values and a great work ethic. He is actively involved with local sporting clubs and schools.

A machine operator with Corex Plastics in Dandenong, Jin Luan joined the United Australia Party to fight for a fair go for ordinary Australians.

He has worked in a variety of roles including tool making, small business, assembly worker and factory hand.

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