Palmer United Party



The United Australia Party (formerly The Palmer United Party, self-named after Clive "national living treasure" Palmer), is a political party in Australia who, unfortunately, hold significant sway in the Australian Senate. It is also known for its atrocious, hard to look at, website given that its two primary colours are yellow on a white background.

Support base
The United Australia Party drew its support from typically uneducated, working-class, politically disinterested Australians who are easily sucked in by Clive Palmer's "everyday 'Strayin" rhetoric. In other words, they are basically the same type who support One Nation - which is clearly evident given that its support is most potent in Queensland. Even though Palmer's immigration policy (see below) aligns somewhat closer to that of the Australian Greens, on face value at least.

Policies
According to the party's website, its policies are as follows.


 * Party officials should not be lobbyists, thereby taking a strong position on paid political lobbyists, saving taxpayers dollars and introducing fair policies.
 * Establish an emissions trading scheme, another form of carbon pricing, that will not come into effect until other countries – US, China, EU, Japan and Korea – also establish such a scheme.
 * Revising the current Australian government refugee policy to ensure Australia is protected and refugees are given opportunities for a better future and lifestyle.
 * Creating mineral wealth to continuously contribute to the welfare of the Australian community. This will be achieved by utilising mineral resources from Queensland and Western Australia, and incentives from the Commonwealth of Australia to establish downstream processing in the States of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia; and exporting products at a higher dollar value, thereby creating more revenue, jobs, tax and more facilities.
 * Establishing a system where people create wealth in various parts of the country and for that wealth to flow back to the community that generates wealth.
 * Closing down detention centres for asylum-seeker boat arrivals: "... abolish the detention camps, restore our navy to its traditional role, save the lives of children and families, keep families together and recognise the legitimate rights of those that have a lawful reason for entering Australia."
 * Moving towards free trade and closer economic relations with Asia.
 * Decentralisation and regional self-government, such as a new North Queensland state.
 * Encouraging competitive markets by restricting monopoly and prohibiting unfair trading practices.
 * Abolish higher education fees.