Clive Palmer wants to be PM? Does he realise he's running for the Senate?

Clive Palmer thinks he'll be PM? Does he realise he's running for the Senate?

This mornings poll showed that Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party has attracted about 5% of the primary vote. Tellingly, old man Palmer went on the attack claiming that there was no undecided number in the poll and that he is running in 151 seats and will win government.

Now there is no hope that Clive will win power. This is based on two reasons. While he might be popular on the fringes in far North Queensland - after all he won his seat in 2013 by a margin of just 53 votes - he does not have the same level of popularity south of the Tropic of Capricorn. The second reason was demonstrated by Nick Xenophon in the 2018 South Australian Election. 

For those who don’t remember, Nick Xenophon held 3 votes in the balance of Power in the Federal Senate. He had the ability to shape federal politics for the benefit of his home state of South Australia. Then, he left Federal politics to contest the South Australian election. He stood candidates in all seats claiming that he would be the next premier. Unfortunately neither he nor any other candidates won a seat and Nick exited politics.

Nick failed because he ignored the laws of power and influence as outlined in many books such as The Art of War by Sun Tzu, through to The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. These laws are applicable in politics as well as everyday interactions at work. Palmer will fail because he is ignoring these laws:

Concentrate your forces - Spread yourself to thin and lose your power. Palmer showed that he was unable to control Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus and Dio Wang during his first tilt at power. Within a few years, all but Wang had left his party. Moving from no sitting members to trying to control 151 candidates who have no political experience will dilute his focus. He will spend more time putting out unnecessary fires than selling his plans. The major parties that have been established for many decades still have problems with rogue candidates. Palmer, without an experienced support structure will have it many times over.

Preach the need to change, but never reform too much too quickly. This is the one that Xenophon ignored and Palmer seems to be as well. Most people recognise that our two-party system needs a shake up, but don’t want it to happen too quickly. After all, we want the country to function while the changes take place. Palmer would be better off to set up candidates in 5-6 seats, then 10-15 seats at the following election. This would enable him to concentrate his forces and have a support structure in place of experienced politicians for the next federal election.

Compare this to Donald Trumps 2016 election campaign. He preached the need for change (drain the swamp), but didn’t want to reform too quickly. He spoke of the need to protect steel jobs and bring manufacturing back to America - both ideas that played to a sense of security that we feel for the past.

Sell a fantasy. We all need a fantasy to believe in because it’s much better than reality. As such, all political parties sell them. The Coalition sell the fantasy that they can manage the economy, the ALP sell the fantasy that they can look after everyone, One Nation sells the fantasy of a white Australia. Clive palmer sells the fantasy of making Australia great - whatever that means. 

Fantasies need to be detailed enough to lead us in a direction, but vague enough that we can fill in our own ideas. Clive Palmer does not create an opportunity for us to believe in a fantasy that he can create. Being great is too vague and won’t draw people to it.

If you want to be a King, act like one. This is one aspect that Malcolm Turnbull had in spades. He looked like a statesman and was treated as one. John Howard, Julia Gillard and Paul Keating had this as well. Clive does not. 

We don’t want our leaders to be the same as us. We want them to be better than us. Our neighbours are the same as us; would you want them to be the PM? 

We want our leaders to be better versions of ourselves - to have the skills that we don’t have. We want them to have the ability to handle the big problems that we cannot handle, to set the vision that we can follow and to be so good at everything they do that we aspire to being like them. That is what makes them a leader we will follow. Clive Palmer is not this.

It could also be argued that neither is Scott Morrison nor Bill Shorten. With ScoMo spending so much time swinging a cricket bat, attempting tennis and heading soccer balls he is showing that he is one of us. This is not what we want out leaders to do. Malcolm Turnbull famously rejected a Democracy Dog a polling booth and it did not hurt him. He was highly respected as our leader from all sides of politics. Bob Carr, NSW’s longest serving premier famously read Tolstoy when he was forced to attend football games. He did not care for what the populous did and was rewarded with 10 years as premier for it.

Create Compelling Spectacles. Look so I good and attractive in your public appearances that people are drawn to you. Clive fails at this. When he appears in public he is often dishevelled and does not create an appearance that draws us to him.

When Kings and Queens enter to an event there is pomp and ceremony. The band plays, people stand and they speak with eloquence and confidence. Campaign election launches mimic this with their colour and fanfare. Clive does not do this. When he speaks he is often out of breath and minces his words. This does not install the leadership aura needed for us to treat him as someone we want to lead us.

Bill Shorten also has problems with this. When he speaks he is lack lustre, does not pronounce his words correctly and has all the natural body language of a manikin. Dare I suggest that this is part of the reason he has been unable to build trust with the electorate.

That’s all for this issue

If you'd like to get early access to future Ambition | Power | Control articles - the non-policy focused analysis of the election), simply drop me a direct message with your email address and I'll send them to you.

And, if you’re interested, I’m running a public speaking course at the end of May. You can get full details here. And yes - there is a good bit of political analysis in it

As always, I'd love your comments below.

Cheers,

Darren

0422 670 659

[email protected]