Economy

Palmer to focus on economic policies for Australia's prosperity: State of the Nation 2014

The Palmer United Party will focus on getting the right economic policies for Australia’s future prosperity, its leader Clive Palmer has told a CEDA audience in Canberra.

Speaking at CEDA's State of the Nation conference, Mr Palmer said the Government needs to focus on climate change and other key economic policies.

"Our whole approach is that the Government's on the wrong track, that we're not focussing on critical issues that will change the economy," he said.

"What's more important than the survival of our political party and whether or not we prosper or not is whether we can get the right policies for the country."

On the topic of tax, Mr Palmer said reform should aim for economic stimulation.

Mr Palmer said of the $268 billion collected in GST last year, $245 billion was refunded.

"It's not facing the real problem," he said. 

"The GST is a political rouse really, it's just there to tax individual Australians more, not businesses,"

A good education policy is also important to maintain a strong economy, Mr Palmer said.

"A good education policy is not only a good economic policy, it's a good social policy," he said.

"The better we educate our people, the better we can compete but only if there's jobs for them to go to."

Mr Palmer also said Australia needs practical solutions to our economic problems in order to capitalise on opportunities in the Asian century.

"We need to have some practical solutions…we need to make sure that this country gets the benefit of our collective experience," he said.

"We need to be more organised than the Chinese, the Japanese and our trading partners and know what the gain is.

We need to do something radical because this country is missing out on so many opportunities that are there because of its geographical location to Asia, its resources and its people."