Palmer to re-form UAP party for election

BILLIONAIRE miner Clive Palmer has come good on threats to set up his own political party, saying he will personally run for federal parliament.

Mr Palmer told ABC TV on Thursday he was re-forming the United Australia Party (UAP), which was dissolved in 1945, and had applied for registration in Queensland.

The former life member of the Liberal National Party (LNP) said the new UAP would contest 127 lower house seats in the September federal election, and stand for all seats in the Senate.

"I definitely will be (personally) standing for federal parliament," he confirmed, without revealing which seat.

"I definitely will be running in a seat in Queensland, but it would be presumptuous of me (to say which one).

"Like any political party, it's got to have its own preselections.

"By the end of next week we'll be announcing some of our candidates for federal parliament."

The original UAP was established in 1931 and was the predecessor to the Liberal Party, with Robert Menzies serving as a UAP prime minister between 1939 and 1941.

Late last year Mr Palmer gave up his life membership of the LNP after a bitter and public dispute with the Newman government in Queensland, and since then has threatened to set up his own party.

Mr Palmer said there were key differences between his new political party and the Liberals, including on refugee policy and the axing of the carbon tax.

The party already had a number of "notable Australians" that wanted to stand for federal parliament, he said.

"The United Australia Party, it's a reformation of the original party ... which has had three prime ministers in our history and is a shining example of where we should go."

Before his falling out with the LNP, Mr Palmer had considered running against Treasurer Wayne Swan in his Brisbane seat of Lilley.

But asked if the deputy prime minister should be looking over his shoulder, Mr Palmer would only say: "I'm sure there will be a good candidate running there.

"It will be up to the United Australia Party to decide who runs everywhere," he said.

"Wayne Swan is a very nice guy. His problem is he can't count. He said we'd have a balanced budget but it's going to be $60 billion over."

Mr Palmer dismissed comparisons with former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's aborted "Joh for Canberra" campaign in 1987.

As to whether formation of the party was part of a push to one day be prime minister, the billionaire businessman said: "It's up to the people to decide.

"As you know, the people of Australia elected me as a living national treasure, and that was their choice not mine," Mr Palmer said.

"Whatever it goes, I think I'm prepared to do.

"After all, it's really crazy to think that a person that's never run anything more than a tuckshop can run a trillion dollar economy."