The email was allegedly leaked to the Courier Mail newspaper by former Tasmanian PUP candidate Marti Zucco, who quit the party this week, and whom Mr Palmer accused of displaying "sour grapes". Clive Palmer has dismissed a leaked email in which a PUP MP said Australians were bogans as 'sour grapes'. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Dr Douglas' email also reportedly says that the world of "bogans" was a "world we see daily and quietly hope will disappear". ''The interesting observation about Boganland is not just how common it is now but how the sufferers just copy one another so quickly with each trend ... It is no longer satisfactory that they will just buy [and wear] ugg boots, watch Big Brother, choke on a diet of grease, dye their bright purple (sic), tatoo (sic) and rejoice in their ignorance,'' Dr Douglas allegedly said in an email. On Thursday morning Mr Palmer told Fairfax Media that he had not seen Dr Douglas' emails but said his colleague's remarks "don't sound like the Gettysburg address".

Mr Palmer said there was nothing wrong with bogans and people should know that Dr Douglas was himself a bogan. "He's a bogan for voting for Campbell Newman," Mr Palmer said. Dr Douglas defected from the Queensland Premier's Liberal National Party to Mr Palmer's party late last year and is now Queensland leader of the party. When contacted by the Courier Mail, Dr Douglas initially described Mr Zucco as a disgrace, but did not deny writing the emails. ''They were basically between myself and Marti to say that I was very unhappy about certain things that were going on,'' he said.

Dr Douglas told Fairfax Media on Thursday that he would never deride “bogans” – because he is one himself. “There’s a little bit in all of us,” Dr Douglas said But the Gold Coast MP defended his email to Mr Zucco, saying he was describing the need to interact with all voters. “I was explaining to Marti Zucco that if he wants to get a greater, bigger constituency, he needs to talk to more people,” he said. “I talk to everyday people all the time, I understand what they feel and I understand what they’re wanting, and I’m quite happy to talk to them on the level they wish to be.”

Dr Douglas said bogans can teach politicians a lot about issues that matter. “If we all realised there was a little bit of bogan in us and we weren’t so derogatory about them, we’d probably all just have a better life.” Dr Douglas said movies like The Castle identified bogans in an affectionate manner. “You like those people because they have a humanity, they’re real, they’re not fake.” Dr Douglas said he was unhappy the emails had been leaked and published, but refused to apologise for his frankness, developed over 30 years as a doctor.

“I call it as I see it, I don’t fake it, I’d hate to be described as a fake.” Dr Douglas said the story was a beat-up, but was happy for any publicity that put him on the front page. “My task at the moment is to rid the state of probably the worst premier we’ve ever had in our state’s history, and the sooner the better,” he said. Mr Palmer, a self-proclaimed billionaire, said that he had "spent most of [his] life as a bogan" and was demonstrating his affection for bogans in his political alliances. "All I can say is I like chips," Mr Palmer said. "I regularly eat at McDonalds but I'm eating more salads now . . . I wear Ugg boots and I go four-wheel driving.

"We have got an alliance with the Motoring Enthusiasts," Mr Palmer said. "He throws kangaroo poo; what's so insulting about that? It's a lot of fun." Victorian Senator Ricky Muir from the Motoring Enthusiasts Party uploaded video of a backyard faeces fight on YouTube before being elected to the Senate and forming an alliance with the Palmer United Party. Mr Palmer insisted, despite his colleague's emails, that his party welcomed all Australians, bogan or otherwise. "Our party is there for all citizens," Mr Palmer said. "Ones [sic] that have prejudices and ones that haven't. We want to bring people together". "All Australians should be able to participate in our democracy".

Greens Senator Larissa Waters said the email indicated broader problems within the Palmer United Party. "Frankly it reinforced for me that Clive Palmer’s party is all about billionaires and big mining interests and not really about normal people," she said. Loading Nationals MP Andrew Broad said Ugg boot wearing bogans played an important part in supporting Australian industry. "As a member of Parliament, you’ve got to respect the people that live in your electorate, and people of all walks of life," he said.