Mining magnate Clive Palmer has launched a new political party, drawing on the policies of US President Donald Trump’s and pledging to “drain the swamp”.

Palmer recently lost his bid to register his United Australia Party for the upcoming federal election, and has joined the Trumpet of Patriots party as chairman.

Announcing the development at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, in front of a backdrop featuring the party’s logo and a photo of himself with conservative American commentator Tucker Carlson, Palmer he said the party would adopt many of Trump’s policies.

That includes establishing an Elon Musk-inspired team to review “government waste”.

“Trumpet of Patriots will put Australians first and make Australia great again,” he said.

“We still have a democracy in this country, although the uni-party (two majors) wants to close it down.”

The Trumpet of Patriots party was first registered under a different name with the nation’s electoral commission in 2011, before getting a final revamp in 2024.

Palmer said he was invited to join after the High Court last week denied his bid to re-register the United Australia Party in time for the coming federal election.

The UAP was voluntarily deregistered after the 2022 election.

Registering a new party or changing the name of one usually takes months, meaning taking over a party that is already registered was Palmer’s only realistic option if he wanted to run candidates under a party banner.

Former Palmer United Party candidate Suellen Wrightson was announced as the “prime ministerial” candidate for the federal lower house seat of Hunter.

Despite announcing no policies at Wednesday’s launch, Palmer said it would target cost of living, housing and government spending, in addition to adopting the same stance as the Trump administration on trans issues by recognising only two genders as female and male.

Also drawing on concerns about immigration, Palmer said too much of it destroyed infrastructure and communities, and that the country should be for “all Australians living here”.

The billionaire splashed $123 million on the 2022 federal election which resulted in one representative elected to the upper house – United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet.

“It’s a good investment to free this country from the waste and corruption that is occupying the public service and the government, from the lobbyists who are in this house every day to see members of parliament. I’ve been here, I’ve met them, I’ve heard what they’ve wanted to say and that’s not the way you should govern a country,” he said in defence of the outlay.

“I’m more than happy to spend my funds defending the right of free speech, and whatever is required to be spent will be spent.”

Wrightson said Babet – who does not face an election this term – would not join Trumpet of Patriots. Babet was among the faces at Wednesday’s launch.

She pointed to Trump’s more isolationist approach as doing something “very, very good for the American people”.

“Australians are going hungry, they can’t afford to pay their rent, and we’ve got people sleeping on the streets, we have got to turn our attention to Australians and have lesser focus on international affairs and international aid,” she said.

Asked if he would run at the election, Palmer said he was “too old”.

In a slip, Palmer misspoke and incorrectly referred to the party as the “trumpet of parrots”.

On how Trumpet of Patriots would preference at the election,  Palmer said there were discussions to come – but it would do what was best for the country.

He also would not rule out challenging electoral reform in court, on which he said the two major parties had teamed up to lock out smaller competitors.

Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Palmer’s lavish election spending was a “distortion of democracy”.

“A bloke who spends over $100 million to deliver one Senate seat with a bloke who sits in the corner and just engages in conspiracy theories, I don’t think, represents value for money,” he said.

Albanese also rebuffed suggestions that Tuesday’s cut to official interest rates had cleared the path to an early election.

The Reserve Bank’s rate cut will deliver a monthly saving of about $80 for those with a $500,000 mortgage, and Albanese welcomed the hip-pocket boost for homeowners.

“People are still under financial pressure, but Australians have worked hard for this outcome, and Australians deserve praise and support for what they have done,” said .

“These have been difficult times. Australians had to endure COVID and then the impact of global inflation. But what we are seeing is that we’re heading in the right direction.”

But he dismissed suggestions he would soon make the trip to Government House to call the election.

-with AAP