Lambie expected to announce her split from the party as rancour with PUP leader becomes increasingly bitter

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Clive Palmer has accused fellow Palmer United party (PUP) member Jacqui Lambie of being an agent for other political parties, as a the acrimonious split within the party escalates.



Palmer told ABC radio Lambie was sent to “infiltrate” the PUP, a claim Lambie has shrugged off.

“When you start a new party like our party, the established parties and others try to wreck it,” Palmer said. “She’s been sent in there by someone to cause trouble and I think that’s the reality of it.

“You’ve only got to look at what happened to all the other parties, the tactics that were used to discredit them ... and there’s no reason to think that wouldn’t happen to our party,” he said.

Palmer went on to reiterate his concerns on Channel Seven on Monday morning, accusing the senator of being “controlled by lobbyists” and seeking to “blackmail the government”.

Lambie laughed off the allegations.

“Oh, next I’ll be a Russian agent. Yeah, no, I doubt it.”

“It’s a distraction,” Lambie said.

“Today I’m certainly a member of the Palmer United Party,” she said on Sunday. But “tomorrow’s a new beginning”.

The latest comments all but confirm what has been suspected for weeks: that Lambie will leave the PUP and act as an independent.

On Sunday her chief of staff, Rob Messenger, denied she had reached that conclusion already, instead saying that she would take the weekend to seek advice from family, supporters and Tasmanian barrister Glynn Williams.

“When you have somebody very powerful who has a lot of money you have to cover all your bases and make sure if they’re going to come at you for whatever reason you have everything covered,” Lambie said.

Palmer has accused Lambie of supporting the Australian Defence Veterans party since January, and of meeting other parties and politicians, including Pauline Hanson.

“She continues to act dishonestly and lie to me and other party members to gain media attention,” Palmer said in a statement released on Sunday. “Senator Lambie’s actions seek to undermine the interests of the Australian people in preference to her own.”

Palmer said Lambie had questions to answer over whether she was receiving a disability pension from the government while being a full-time PUP senator.

Messenger said Lambie would respond to Palmer’s allegations in more detail later on Monday.