United Australia party candidates say they don’t expect Palmer will pay people to staff booths on election day, which could sway results

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Clive Palmer’s candidates are frantically trying to find volunteers to hand out how-to-vote cards at Saturday’s election, with one offering a homeless man $100 on Gumtree to cover expenses for a day’s work.

The Labor MP Andrew Giles has blasted his United Australia Party opponent in the Victorian seat of Scullin, Firas Hasan, for “exploitation” after he also offered volunteers $100.

Several United Australia party candidates who spoke to Guardian Australia say they do not expect Palmer to staff booths with paid workers on election day as he did in 2013 when the party secured 5.5% of first-preference votes nationally.

But on Tuesday Guardian Australia found a social media post from Port Adelaide councillor Mark Basham revealing he is “being paid to help a friend” running for UAP by recruiting people to work for 10 and a half hours on 18 May for $200.

The UAP candidate in Wentworth, Mike Bloomfield, advertised on Gumtree for “some paid positions” on election day. When contacted, Bloomfield said he had “no comment, unless you’re looking for a job”, then hung up.

A separate post in a Facebook job notice board for the Yarra Valley offered “promo work ... handing out forms at schools located in [the] eastern suburbs” for $28 an hour from 7:45am to 6pm on Saturday.

A respondent who contacted the promoter, Kim Gaston of Gaston Management, was told the job was to hand out “polling forms for could be United Australia party or the Liberal” in Ringwood, Mitcham, Bayswater, Croydon, Nunawading and Heathmont, suburbs in the electorates of Deakin and Aston.

Palmer’s new party is directing preferences to the Liberals, which could prove consequential in a swag of marginal seats.

University says Clive Palmer candidate who claims to be 'adjunct lecturer' does not work there Read more

On Monday it emerged Palmer himself was spending the last days before the election in Fiji, after multiple holidaying Australians shared photos of him at an Italian restaurant there.

A spokesman for Palmer said he was visiting the island to be with a family friend, who was ill.

“You can do that when you have your own private jet,” he told Brisbane’s Courier-Mail. “He is fully committed to campaigning … He is just doing the right thing by a family friend.”

Questions have been raised about the overlap of the Liberals’ campaign with the UAP, with images emerging of Liberals handing out UAP campaign material, and the UAP paying for Liberal advertising content.

Queensland Labor (@QLDLabor) DESPERATE DEALS. What kind of deal have Clive Palmer and Scott Morrison really done?



Clive’s spending tens of millions in advertising, and now he’s putting it in behind LNP candidates as well.



Time to end this shameful coalition of chaos.#auspol pic.twitter.com/vaAZhhdlJv

Basham told Guardian Australia he had organised workers for election day “about 15 or 16 times” for various parties, but refused to say where the $200 offered is coming from.

“I’m assisting people to find some work on election day,” he said and referred further questions to the UAP.

Gaston told Guardian Australia she could “not comment unless you’re looking for some promotional work”.

“As far as I know nobody is being paid – I’m not being paid. They’re all volunteers as far as I know.”

Asked why she had offered supposedly unpaid volunteers $28 an hour, Gaston replied she offers paid work to “get them on my books” then offers different paid work opportunities down the track.

Gaston denied working for the UAP or Liberal Party, suggesting volunteers “could be” helping those parties or “could be [helping] the Labor Party”.

Lex Stewart, who is running for UAP in the seat of Cowper, said he did not expect to be able to man every booth on election day, expecting to have volunteers on about 10 of 66 booths in the electorate.

He said he would be asking head office for the resources to pay staff, suggesting it would be a “good idea” if the party extended its spending – estimated to be tracking towards $70m throughout the campaign – to individual candidates.

UAP candidate for Fairfax, Kylie Cowling, who has come under fire for offering $100 to a homeless man to cover his expenses to volunteer on Saturday, said each candidate was able to negotiate with the party for some resources to pay volunteers.

Clive Palmer's candidates required to pay $400,000 if they win seat but leave party Read more

“Because we are a new party so we don’t have the volunteer base that others do, so there is some funding there if needed,” Cowling said, adding that the amount would be up to each candidate to negotiate with the party.

“We have been given a few guidelines basically to make sure that no one is without food and water for the day and to make sure people are supplied with stuff.”

Cowling has attempted to recruit volunteers through Gumtree, with one homeless man objecting to the offer of $100 for a 10-hour working day with breaks.

“You’re offering me $12.50 per hour. Do you know what the minimum wage is for a working adult?” Sunshine Coast man Reed Hancock said in response to Cowling’s ad.

“I’m assuming if you’re going to screw a homeless person over like this then you won’t treat your constituents much better.”

Andrew Giles MP (@andrewjgiles) Helpers? This is an appalling attempt at exploitation. https://t.co/k1w5Uwv2Ob

Images have emerged of Liberal volunteers handing out UAP campaign material at pre-poll booths, including in the marginal seat of Dunkley.

The UAP’s Victorian Senate candidate Catriona Thoolen said the Liberals were helping the UAP man polling booths.

“Where it is happening, the Libs are funding the workers,” she said on Twitter.

She told Guardian Australia that the party had not paid anyone to hand out how-to-vote cards on pre-poll.

Firas Hasan told Guardian Australia that he had removed the post offering volunteers $100, but referred further questions about where the money was coming from to the UAP.

A UAP spokesman said it was “wrong” and “hopeless” to ask if Palmer is paying for volunteers.