Clive Palmer ‘breaks every rule in the book’
Clive Palmer says the money "could have been for parties''.
Multi-millionaire politician Clive Palmer has been chided by Speaker Bronwyn Bishop for the extraordinary feat of supposedly breaking every single rule in parliament pertaining to the asking of questions.
During Monday’s question time in the lower house, Mr Palmer attempted to quiz the Prime Minister about a mooted law to strip terror suspects of their Australian citizenship.
The businessman, head of the shrinking Palmer United Party, tried to expose what he saw as the fragility of the proposal, in that it relies on the advice given to the Immigration Minister by his staff.
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“Is it okay that an Australian citizen could lose his citizenship because a government official lies or makes a mistake?” he tried to ask.
In a later interview with Sky News, Mr Palmer clarified that he was referring to the Godwin Gretch incident, which ultimately cost Malcolm Turnbull the Liberal leadership.
Mr Turnbull relied on evidence given by Treasury official Mr Gretch to attack then-Labor PM Kevin Rudd — evidence later proven false.
The Speaker ruled the question out of order because “it offends every standing order in the book”.
Mr Palmer’s extraordinarily broad breach may have been worsened by what he said before the question.
The businessman prefaced his query by congratulating Greens MP Adam Bandt and his wife on the birth of their child “a few minutes ago”.
-with AAP.