Palmer United senator Jacqui Lambie has not ruled out leaving her party. Photograph: Mike Bowers/Guardian Australia
Palmer United party senator Jacqui Lambie has refused to rule out leaving the party, saying her “intention” is to work with PUP.
Lambie and her party leader, Clive Palmer, have disagreed over Lambie’scampaign to ban the burqa and her continued comments about sharia lawbeing “based on terrorism” and declaring extremist Muslims who follow it should get out of Australia.
Palmer reportedly called Lambie “not very bright” on Tuesday morning in conversation at the parliamentary canteen and when Fairfax Media made inquiries about the alleged remark Lambie’s media adviser, Rob Messenger, emailed his response to the entire press gallery.
Messenger alleged Palmer had actually called another PUP senator, Dio Wang, “not very bright”.
Asked by Guardian Australia if Lambie could rule out leaving the party, Lambie responded through her adviser: “My intention is to work with the Palmer United party.”
Messenger retracted the remark about Wang, saying the response “was a joke”.
“There are armed guards at a high state of readiness outside parliament – for the first time in Australian modern history. Ordinary Australians are now fearful of attacks from sharia extremists. Politicians and staff now know a little of how the troops overseas must be feeling – so we decided to lighten up people’s day with a little fun,” she said of the decision to email the response to a journalist’s questions to the entire press gallery.
Palmer denied he called Lambie “not very bright” at a press conference, responding with a simple “no” then telling the reporter “I don’t think you’re very bright” when he was asked if he had made the comment about Wang.
“I’ve never been upset about a challenge [from Lambie] and she’s never said she would leave at the party, and she won’t,” he said when responding to her comments about sharia law.
“She said she will never leave the party. She will be voting today in the Senate with all of our senators. I know you’d love to have a story like that so you get a headline. We can’t create the news, we should just report it.”
When asked what the consequences would be for a PUP senator who crossed the floor in the Senate, Palmer said: “I don’t know, you’ve had enough questions”.
Palmer United senator Jacqui Lambie has not ruled out leaving her party. Photograph: Mike Bowers/Guardian Australia
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