Federal election 2019: Clive Palmer talks Donald Trump and WA GST share

Senate hopeful Clive Palmer has doubled-down on his Donald Trump-like rhetoric, claiming his previous term in Parliament paved the way for the fellow billionaire’s shock US election win in 2016.

In a bombastic interview on 6PR Breakfast on Friday morning Mr Palmer also said it would be “insane” for Australians to vote for the Labor or Liberal parties and repeated his claim that his United Australia Party would form government after the May 18 Federal election.

Mr Palmer’s garish yellow billboards sporting the slogan Make Australia Great — an obvious nod to Trump’s Make America Great Again catchphrase — are a common sight across Australian cities with the controversial mining magnate spending millions of dollars to return to Parliament, this time in the Senate.

When asked if he was running a Trump-style campaign, Mr Palmer said in fact he had inspired Trump.

“We got the balance of power in Australia in 2013, it was Donald Trump who came after us,” he said.

“We gave Australians a voice and he followed.”

Even though he was born in Melbourne and lived in Queensland since the 1960s, Mr Palmer used the pronoun “we” when referring to WA.

“WA elected our senator Dio Wang and now WA gets back 80 per cent of the GST instead of 40 per cent,” he said.

“After this election when we are there again, we will deliver again and 100 per cent of GST should come back to WA.

“Why are Western Australians second class citizens? We are as good as people from eastern Australia, we deserve our own money.”

The 70 cent floor on WA’s GST share was passed last year, two years after the last PUP representative left Parliament.

The UAP is running candidates in every Lower House seat at the election and Mr Palmer said he intended to win the majority of them.

“Insanity is doing the same thing again over and over for the same result,” he said.

“Australians have been doing that since WWII voting Liberal and Labor, now they have a choice.”

In the 2013 Federal election the then Palmer United Party held the balance of power with senators Mr Wang from WA, Glenn Lazarus from Queensland and Jacqui Lambie from Tasmania. Mr Palmer also won the seat of Fairfax in the House of Representatives.

However, by the end of the parliamentary term both Mr Lazarus and Ms Lambie had left PUP.

Mr Palmer and Mr Wang lost their seats at the 2016 election.

Mr Palmer said he was confident any elected UAP candidates would go the distance this time.

“Our candidates are very strong, very committed,” he said.

“When we held the balance of power we were under enormous pressure, Dio Wang didn’t crack. he went the full distance.

“I don’t think Bill Shorten’s the right guy for Australia because I think he’s a dishonest person.

“He’s discussed preferences with me and the Labor Party did with me for a month or so. Because he missed out and the Liberal Party got them he took his marbles and went home, Shifty Shorten.”