Clive Palmer tells Abbott to 'commit suicide' during remarks on education policy
Palmer United party apologises for remark but he ‘shouldn’t be going there in the first place’, says chief executive of Sane
The Palmer United party leader, Clive Palmer, has told the prime minister to “commit suicide” during remarks about education policy.
The federal MP for Fairfax later attempted to clarify his remarks, insisting he meant to refer to “political suicide”, but support groups said they were disappointed by the “irresponsible” language.
After a presentation to the media in which he referred to official figures to undermine government claims about Australia’s debt levels, Palmer said he and his party’s two senators all agreed they would vote against the government’s higher education bill.
“Why are we going to do it? This report tells us we should, because we are No 1 in the world,” Palmer said.
“There’s a million students going to tertiary education in this country. There’s a million more about to go, and a million more that’s just left. They’ve all got parents. So commit suicide Tony Abbott, you know.”
Palmer laughed, before being asked why he had made that sort of comment in the context of the higher education debate.
“Because it’s not a debate,” he said. “I would raise it because it’s suicide, political suicide, to go against the will of what’s good for the Australian people.”
Palmer tweeted an apology on Wednesday afternoon, saying he had “inadvertently used the term suicide” when he “meant political suicide”. “I apologise for any offence caused,” he wrote on Twitter.
