Clive Palmer says 'tough luck' he's refusing to hold budget talks unless he gets more parliamentary staff

Updated

Clive Palmer says it is "tough luck" for the Coalition Government that he is refusing to hold talks about the budget unless he is given more staff.

The Palmer United Party (PUP) will take over balance of power seats in the Senate when its three Senators enter Parliament on July 1 and form a voting bloc with Australian Motoring Enthusiasts party Victorian Senator Ricky Muir.

The Government will need the PUP-controlled votes to introduce any of its measures, as well as another two Senators from the micro-party rich Senate crossbench.

Mr Palmer says his party will vote against key planks of the budget, including the $7 GP fee, tax increases on fuel and for high income earners, and the changes to pensions brought in by the Coalition in its first budget last month.

And the member for the Queensland seat of Fairfax is not budging from his position not to sit down with the Government until he is given more parliamentary staff to assist his new MPs.

"They're not talking to us. They've got the responsibility for passing the budget - not us," he told the ABC's 7.30 program.

"And we can't vote for something [if] we don't know what it means. And some of these Acts are 600 pages long and unless we've got people to help us we can't understand what some of the legislation is about.

"They won't give us 10 people to read some of the bills coming from the House of Representatives because they want us to tick [off] their program regardless of their views.

"Our Senators weren't elected for that and I wasn't elected for that and we're not going to hurt the people of Australia like they want to."

He says he has not held any formal discussions with the Government since the week before the budget.

But last week, he did have dinner with frontbencher and former Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull, and Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson.

The dining companions all insist the date was impromptu but it triggered fevered speculation that Mr Turnbull was courting Mr Palmer in a bid to flex his leadership potential - something the Communications Minister has angrily denied.

When asked on 7.30 on Wednesday night whether he would prefer to have budget negotiations with Mr Turnbull, Mr Palmer said "not really".

"I'd prefer to have serious discussions about things which are achievable but I'm not going to desert single mothers, I'm not going to desert families, I'm not going to desert the pensioners of Australia," he said.

"Tough luck to them," he added, referring to the Government.

The poor state of relations between Mr Palmer and the Coalition has also recently been highlighted by the furore over the Fairfax MP's decision to point to the Prime Minister's chief of staff Peta Credlin as someone who would benefit from the new paid parental leave scheme.

But Mr Palmer said his new status in politics had made him a target for criticism.

"I'm getting lot of attention because the Prime Minister is upset that he hasn't got the control of the Senate and these sort of issues come up from time to time because they want to attack me personally," he said.

Topics: government-and-politics, clive-palmer, budget, australia

First posted