Election pledges would see banks lending at a loss, regional Australia incentives
A Queensland Senate candidate has unveiled an economic policy agenda that includes a 3% cap on home lending rates and a 15% licence on iron ore exports, with the proceeds to be used to retire debt.
Mining billionaire Clive Palmer said he intended to spend $70 million running Senate candidates in every state, as well as candidates in every lower house seat in the federal election, according to a report by The Australian Financial Review.
In the 2019 election, Palmer spent at least $60 million keeping Labor out of power in the 2019 elections. This time, Palmer plans to work against both major parties. He said his United Australia Party would punish those parties that implemented COVID-19 lockdowns, AFR reported. Conversely, Palmer said the UAP would stand by MPs who had crossed the floor or made other protests against lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
Palmer is the UAP’s number-one candidate in Queensland. He was last in Parliament as the member for the lower house seat of Fairfax from 2013 to 2016.
Palmer told the National Press Club that neither Treasurer Josh Frydenberg nor Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers had any real-world experience, whereas he knew how to handle vast sums of money and pay down debt, AFR reported.
Read next: Affordability becomes key election issue
He said his proposal to cap home loan rates at 3% – which would result in banks lending at a loss – would “protect six million Australia homes and defend the prosperity and freedom of all Australian families and the independence of our country.”
Palmer is also pushing for an increase of $180 per fortnight to the age pension, a 200% “tax concession incentive” to encourage people to move at least 200 kilometres away from capital cities, and laws to compel the superannuation industry to invest at least $1 trillion in Australia.
“There’s a great reset coming,” Palmer said.
