Palmer Unity party leader announces dumping from the party of Lambie’s chief of staff, Rob Messenger
Clive Palmer has described one of his own senators, Jacqui Lambie, as a “drama queen” who is “focused on her own quest for power” and announced her chief of staff had been dumped from his party.
In a significant escalation of tensions within the Palmer United party (PUP), Palmer said Lambie should challenge his leadership or get on with her job in the Senate.
The PUP leader said the executive had agreed to expel Lambie’s chief of staff, Rob Messenger, from the party “on the grounds of making false and misleading statements about our senators”.
Palmer said Messenger, a former Queensland Nationals state MP, who issues press releases on behalf of Lambie, was a “disruptive” influence.
“Everything Senator Lambie says is really coming from her chief of staff. Senator Lambie is simply Rob Messenger’s mouthpiece,” Palmer said.
• Mike Bolan, in Comments: Jacqui Lambie has rightly stated that her boss is the people of Tasmania, not Clive Palmer; Interesting that Leigh Sales couldn’t see the force of that argument in her interview! Jacqui, like all of us, has her limitations but in taking a stand on principle, she is doing something that very few of the party politicians are ever going to do. How we can imagine that control of our lives, tax monies, and policies to a few unelected party officials, is entirely beyond my comprehension. Calling the result a democracy is several bridges too far. I support Jacqui in her right to stand up for her beliefs and for the people of Tasmania.
