Since his bizarre election night interview after he won the seat of Fairfax (and then won it again) which will lead to him inexplicably and somewhat terrifyingly holding the balance of power in the Senate come July, it’s been pretty quiet on the Clive Palmer hilarity front. But, proving that you can’t keep a big man down, Palmer has today accused ASIO of tapping his phone and intercepting his emails.
Ahhhhhhh. It’s good to have him back.
During Question Time today, Palmer asked Tony Abbott:
“Are any crossbench members, including me, having their phones or their emails tapped or intercepted by any Commonwealth or State agency, or any foreign Government, doing this to give the government plausible denial? Are our parliamentary offices bugged?”
It seemed like little more than a dig at the Coalition’s recent Indonesian spying debacle, and Abbott answered as such, telling Palmer:
“It has never been the practice of any government in this country to comment on the specifics of operational intelligence matters. I also want to make the point to the member for Fairfax that no-one’s phone can be tapped, no-one’s conversations can be listened in to, without a specific warrant. Our intelligences services, both here and abroad, operate under the very strictest of safeguards… I can assure the Member for Fairfax that he can speak in peace, so to speak, without any fear that anything untoward is going on.”
Palmer seemed to be j/k. But really, he wasn’t j/k. He was srs. Later at a press conference, Palmer told gathered media that it was a “well known fact” (well known to whom, he didn’t specify) that ASIO tapped his phone and the phones of other wealthy people. “I’ve had my phone bugged now for about 10 or 15 years,” he said, “as well as my emails intercepted,” and he vowed to have his offices swept for bugs, but wouldn’t organise it over the phone “or they’ll know we’re coming”. There you have it ASIO, Clive is on to you. You’ll just have to wait to find out new information about his dinosaur park, like the rest of us.
Via ABC News. Lead image by Dave Hunt via AAP
