Monthly Archives: April 2025

Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots: Unmasking Australia’s Wizard of Oz

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As Clive Palmer’s new Trumpet of Patriots party bombards the media and our phones with a barrage of advertising and text messages, Australians everywhere wonder why this would-be Wizard of Oz would repeatedly invest millions of dollars into political campaigns he has almost no hope of winning. Is he mad? Is he dumb? Does the man have more dollars than sense? 

People everywhere are asking, “What sane person would throw away all that cash knowing they are destined to lose?”

Other questions centre on Palmer’s dubious cast of candidates. Three in particular appear particularly shonky, yet they have cleared whatever low bar passes for vetting by the Trumpet of Patriots gatekeepers. Why wasn’t more care taken?

And then, there is the sense of absolute chaos which characterises the party. Not unlike Palmer’s muse, Donald Trump, drama surrounds Trumpet of Patriots like the swirl of dirt and flies that hover around the “Charlie Brown” cartoon character, Pigpen. Indeed, Charles M Schulz’s description of Pigpen could well apply to the politics and promises of both Palmer and Trump:

“Pigpen is a human soil bank who raises a cloud of dust on a perfectly clean street and passes out gum drops that are invariably black.”

What’s In It for Clive?

Having previously shone a spotlight on Trumpet of Patriots’ party leader Suellen Wrightson, and Wide Bay candidate, Gabrial Pennicott, I thought it was important to answer the question, “What’s in it for Clive?” before we head to the polls on Saturday.

The first thing it’s important to understand is, it’s not about winning seats in parliament or the Senate. Clive doesn’t expect to win seats, and he doesn’t care about losing. Strange as it may seem, although he’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars on electoral campaigns over the last 12 years, winning seats is simply not the point of the exercise.

The point of Palmer’s political activities is principally to protect and advance his own business interests. 

Owning a political party provides Palmer with high visibility, influence over public opinion, and the power to shift election results – if only very marginally.

In tight seats, these margins might be crucial. By becoming a high-profile influencer, Palmer effectively builds porcupine quills around his business interests; a warning to politicians that their fortunes in this and future elections may depend on them ensuring a favourable regulatory and commercial environment which allows Palmer to maximise profits and minimize costs. Increase corporate taxes, impose costly environmental protection policies, coerce him into broader concessions for traditional owners, or refuse Palmer a profitable mining lease, and you may find him using his considerable resources against you. 

Politicians are all too aware that a tiny percentage of the national vote may not be enough to win Trumpet of Patriots seats, but their preferences might cause enough of a swing to make you lose yours. In a country divided roughly 50/50 between progressives and conservatives, the loss of a single marginal seat could mean losing government. Palmer aspires to be a “king maker.”

This harnesses what scholars call potential power or “the shadow of power” – when you don’t actually have to wield power, because simply knowing what you might do, people will modify their actions in order to appease you.

Investing hundreds of millions of dollars into media advertising also gives Palmer potential power. Ideally, we hope that our media and journalists are independent. But when an advertiser like Palmer is throwing tens of millions of dollars in your direction, media barons and editors may well be reluctant to voice unrestrained criticism of either Palmer’s party or his mining and tourism interests. It’s a bit like having a wealthy great-aunt you dare not cross, lest you be written out of the will.

In short, Palmer’s investment in politics is motivated almost entirely by a desire to reshape Australia’s political and media landscapes in ways that favour his business portfolio.

Tax Write-Off?

Some have speculated that the millions Palmer pours into playing politics is a clever tax write-off. As far as I can tell, most of the money he spends is not tax deductible. Of course, Palmer has access to the very best accountants, and there may well be loopholes that can be exploited. But, generally, I think we should assume this is not his motivation. 

While hundreds of millions seem an enormous amount to most of us, it’s a drop in the ocean for Palmer. Palmer’s current net worth is estimated at around $23 billion. As a percentage of his overall wealth, $200 million (an estimate of his overall spend since starting the Palmer United Party in 2013) is roughly equivalent to the average Aussie splashing out a few thousand dollars on a clapped-out, second-hand car, or spending $300 a year on streaming services. Confirming this, when a Queensland court ordered a temporary freeze on $200 million of Palmer’s personal assets in 2018, Palmer brushed it off as a negligible sum. 

Amortized over 12 years, Clive’s investment in politics is a pittance. In fact, he said during a recent speech to the National Press Club, “This is my golf.”

Protecting Asset Values

For the ultra-wealthy, power lies in the perceived market value of your assets.

Palmer’s wealth is not just held in cash, but in physical properties such as mining leases and real estate. Some of his wealth is in intangible assets such as his brand value, his ability to negotiate favourable contracts or agreements, and his ability to influence the government of the day.

All of these factors are enhanced by Palmer’s involvement in politics – but are not in the least bit contingent on him winning any seats. 

Trumpet of Patriots brings Palmer unprecedented media exposure, and earns him an international reputation as a high-profile mover and shaker with the determination and power to take on the Australian government. It buys him a good measure of influence with government and the media, and, internationally, he presents as someone who can influence legislation which might compromise his business interests. All these things increase the asset value of Palmer’s portfolio.

Why is this important? For a tycoon like Palmer, the value of your assets determines the availability and amount of loans you can negotiate. It also provides power when negotiating contracts – e.g. with Chinese investors. A businessman with a robust asset portfolio can command better terms, more favourable joint-venture agreements, and less regulatory oversight. Investors have more confidence in a person who has shown he is politically influential and willing to challenge adverse regulatory changes. 

Having a high asset value can also give you some immunity to fines. If a $200 million fine doesn’t matter to you, you are not going to run your business in fear of it. It will not be a deterrent, nor will it affect your wealth or power. 

In 2014 Palmer had a highly publicized run-in with his Chinese investors and the Chinese government – potentially making his assets a less attractive acquisition for foreign investors. While much of Palmer’s current anti-immigration rhetoric may seem counter-productive by adding salt to the wound, many believe his asset values are now at a level where investors are willing to see the political rhetoric he spouts as something distinct from his business dealings. 

Money talks. But, for people like Trump and Palmer, money is not an end in itself. Money – or, rather, assets – buy power, influence and the freedom to do as you damn well please. Your asset value places a kind of protective bubble around your wealth – the higher your asset value, the more invincible you become. Even insulting your investors can be forgiven if you’re making them enough money. 

So, while Palmer may not earn a single seat in parliament, nor even recoup his investment in monetary terms, his political antics provide him with improved deal terms, immunity from negative publicity, and protected or improved asset values. 

In short, Trumpet of Patriots has very little to do with improving the lives of working class and middle-class Australians, and almost everything to do with protecting Palmer’s assets.

Framing the Narrative

Palmer is almost constantly in battle with the government or with ASIC – both in and out of the courts. His political campaign aims to denigrate the legitimacy of both, and casts Palmer as a victim of the system. This has a five-fold effect:

  1. His potential to affect outcomes in marginal seats makes it more difficult for politicians to attack him or threaten his interests
  2. The public spotlight he invites, potentially makes courts more cautious about ruling against him
  3. His bellicosity signals to his investors that he will fight tooth and nail against anything that might diminish the value of his assets and they may well decide its not worth the cost or the drama
  4. His political circus distracts from his own corporate shenanigans 
  5. And, in casting himself as a victim, fighting a corrupt and biased system on behalf of all Australians, Palmer maintains a degree of support as a popular hero

Why All the Chaos?

The chaos and buffoonery surrounding Palmer and Trumpet of Patriots is a feature, not a bug.

Those who have observed Palmer behind the scenes don’t see the caricature he presents in public, but a shrewd, intelligent, calculating businessman – a master-strategist whose image gains him followers, money, influence and power.

The public Clive Palmer is essentially Australia’s Wizard of Oz. Holed up in his corporate headquarters, one can imagine him using smoke and mirrors to impress the good folk of Emerald City with a fearsome show of strength and bravado. 

But, behind the curtain, stands an ordinary man, furiously pulling levers and pushing buttons to make the system work to his advantage, maintain his power, and hide the reality of what is really going on.

Palmer gains political power and enhances his brand by being highly visible. It profits him and his brand to be seen as a player. That’s why we see the big yellow billboards, television ads galore, full page newspaper advertisements and a whole slew of provocative statements. As long as people are talking about Palmer and his party – even if the reaction is negative –  his investment is working its magic.

Questionable Candidates – A Feature, Not a Bug

Just so, the highly questionable candidates Palmer’s party has put forward during this campaign are unlikely to be the result of oversights in vetting. Rather, these have shaped up as ideal candidates to gain maximum publicity. Trumpet of Patriots styles itself as a party of grass-roots, non-politicians – rebels and mavericks fighting the system. A few ex-cons and villains only enhance that image; they’re an asset, not a liability. 

Palmer wants to be seen as a ‘disruptor’. Choosing disruptive candidates is entirely on brand and becomes part of the spectacle. These are Palmer’s “circus freaks” – pushed to the front of the grand parade to shock, amaze and create interest and drama – and to distract from the machinations taking place behind the curtain. 

Choosing candidates with shady pasts – people who other parties are likely to reject, and who may have difficulty finding respectable employment – is also a great strategy for creating loyal and grateful foot soldiers. 

While Palmer’s candidates may genuinely believe they are fighting some sovereign citizen cause and that they have a great chance of being elected, the fact is they’re being played by Palmer as pawns. When the election is over, they will have put in a great deal of effort and, probably, money, for the primary purpose of making a billionaire richer. 

The purpose of Trumpet of Patriots is not to make Australians more wealthy or more free; but to build enough behind the scenes influence and power to allow Palmer to reconstruct the political terrain in a way that will most advantage his business and personal wealth. 

Throwing People Under the Bus

In order to achieve his aims, Palmer, like many other right-wing politicians, has chosen a populist, nationalist political strategy reminiscent of that used by Hitler in the 1930s. His party’s name is evidence that he does not resile from the observation he is emulating Trump.

One of the key features of this kind of strategy is to throw your fellow citizens under the bus for fun and profit.

Look, nobody is going to vote for or even listen to a billionaire who says his vanity party is set up for the sole purpose of making himself richer – and them poorer. But, by throwing in some policies that sound appealing to the masses (even if they’re impractical, and potentially detrimental) and by playing on voters’ existing fears and prejudices, he can gain enough of a following to make him dangerous. 

It’s easy for Palmer to text us making grand promises – he knows full well he is never going to get a chance to implement those policies. And who will be blamed when Trumpet of Patriots isn’t voted in? The ‘corrupt’ mainstream parties and the ‘biased’ media. Certainly not Palmer. It’s win-win all the way. (I’m thinking of Mel Brooks’ movie, The Producers, in which his protagonists plan the biggest Broadway flop of all time in order to claim it as a tax write-off.) Failure, in the right context, can be something to aspire to. 

Throwing minorities under the bus is a strategy as old as time. Currently being employed by right-wing Christians to great effect in the USA, it was used in Ancient Rome where, ironically, Christians were targeted as the root of all society’s ills. Today, it is Christians – not unlike Catholic Clive Palmer – targeting migrants, First Nations and transgender people. 

“These are your enemies! And only I can save you from them!” 

This is what the trumpet of patriots is trumpeting. 

For Clive, it might all be fun and games – an intriguing diversion like a lazy game of golf on a Sunday afternoon. But the constant repetition of messages that “there are only two genders”, feeding the propaganda that transgender women pose a threat to women in public bathrooms and in sport, suggesting that too many migrants are causing our housing crisis, and that Indigenous Australians are impertinently demanding too much by politely asking us to spend five minutes at the start of public gatherings to acknowledge their unceded ownership of the land, has real life, negative consequences on those people’s lives.

This kind of propaganda pushes open the Overton Window – making statements that once would have spelled political suicide for a candidate now sound reasonable, natural and even politically advantageous. The endorsement of a man of Palmer’s stature, wealth and power gives these attacks on minorities the imprimatur of being based on “common sense” arguments against “proven threats to the ‘Australian way of life.’” It’s the political equivalent of letting loose the flying monkeys. 

Of course, neither Palmer nor his 2IC, Suellen Wrightson, would be so coarse as to hurl abuse at, physically attack, or even actively discriminate against the minorities they so casually cast as society’s villains. But their rhetoric incites and emboldens those who have no such compunction. 

Indigenous Australians

Just last week, following Palmer’s and Wrightson’s lead, neo-Nazis, disrupted the Welcome to Country at a Melbourne Anzac Day service, causing great distress to many present but, most of all, to Indigenous participants. 

Words have real life effects. Trumpet of Patriots’ rhetoric creates a toxic culture for First Nations people with repeated ‘dog-whistles’ that abuse, discrimination and public humiliation is justified in the cause of ‘defending our nation’; no matter that any threats are confected.

While Indigenous Australians are tough and resilient, constant pressure is strategically designed to wear them down. The abuse and discrimination that flows from Trumpet of Patriots’ kind of rhetoric has the potential to frighten and silence Indigenous Australians, making them reluctant to put themselves forward and fight for their rights.

Opposition to The Voice referendum (to which Palmer contributed $2 million) had the same effect; it was specifically intended to demoralize and disempower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart were the main protagonists behind the “No” campaign. Why? Because their freedom to operate and their profits are negatively impacted by the  requirement to negotiate with traditional owners. Nothing would enrich and empower Clive and Gina so much as a disempowered, disunited, uneducated, downtrodden, frightened, demoralized Indigenous population. The Voice, which promised exactly the opposite to First Nations people was anathema to these fossil fuel billionaires. 

Migrants

Similarly, the attack on migrants promises more benefits than simply gaining popular political support from prejudiced, Anglo-Celtic Australians. A significant proportion of the mining industry workforce consists of migrant workers and workers from ethnic backgrounds. If these people are made to feel insecure, unwelcome, frightened and downtrodden by racist attacks they may tend to be more compliant, less likely to make wage demands, and more reluctant to instigate legal or union action. Every racist attack has a silver lining if you’re a coal baron.

Transgender People

Finally, by attacking transgender people – particularly transgender women –  Palmer rides the wave of anti-trans sentiment currently being whipped up authoritarian leaders across the globe. 

Transgender people are an easy target and a small and powerless enough minority not to cause much political backlash. These attacks have populist appeal and also serve to distract attention from Palmer’s own many failings, and complex court cases. 

It’s important to note that, historically, when transgender people are targeted by governments, an attack on women’s reproductive rights will not be far behind. Both represent unwarranted government intrusion into “bodily autonomy, medical decision-making, liberty, privacy, and equality.” It’s a matter of speaking out when your fellow citizens’ rights are threatened, because you may well be next. 

Anti-trans rhetoric has its own consequences. While attacking transgender people may simply be performative for Palmer – a means of grabbing media headlines, and populist support – it negatively impacts the lived experience of transgender people. 

Transgender women, in particular,  become victims of social exclusion, distrust, stigmatization, discrimination and abuse. Their lives become hell. Instead of targeting the non-trans men who killed an average of two women per week last year, Palmer and his party target transgender women who, as far as I can find, were responsible for no murders nor any rapes in Australia either last year or in 2025. In fact, transgender women are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of sexual assault or physical violence.

A recent study published on The Conversation shows that the disparity between the mental health of transgender and non-transgender people is growing wider year by year, and that this is correlated with the effects of a toxic and discriminatory culture. Transgender people have high rates of suicide, depression, and self-harm – not because of who they are, but because of how they are treated. Palmer and his cohorts not only add to this toxicity but take a large whisk to the cauldron to stir it up.

Deadly Consequences

In short, while Clive Palmer, emulating the Wizard of Oz, pulls the levers and pushes the buttons of his political smoke and mirrors charade, people suffer, people become ill, and people die. 

The billionaire becomes richer, but at what expense?

What is his legacy?

Where is his conscience? It is no absolution to argue that Palmer is also a philanthropist. Words are weapons. No amount of philanthropy will atone for the harm Palmer’s party is vicariously inflicting on innocent and vulnerable Australians.

And, one is tempted to ask, how does his Catholic God sit with Clive’s preference for whacking metaphorical golf balls at real, innocent, vulnerable human beings over harmlessly driving real ones on a Gold Coast golf course?

Palmer may see himself as Australia’s Wizard of Oz, pulling the wool over our eyes with a spectacular display of larger than life bells and whistles – bread and circuses. But it’s time the curtain was pulled back on the Wizard to reveal that the whole show is a pitiful sham.

Chrys Stevenson

Trumpet of Patriots – Honour Among Thieves?

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The motto of Clive Palmer’s new political party, Trumpet of Patriots, is Honor Omnia – Honour Above All.

Yet, after a tsunami of stories about the shady backgrounds of some of the party’s candidates in the forthcoming Federal election, one has to wonder whether the motto should be changed to Honor Inter Fures – Honour Among Thieves.

In the past few days, it’s come to light that at least three of the candidates being fielded by Trumpet of Patriots have somewhat shady pasts. And yet, nary a word from party leader, Suellen Wrightson.

David Sarikaya (aka Ali Davut Sarikaya, aka Dr David Kaye)

News reports have revealed that Trumpet of Patriots candidate for Reid, David Sarikaya (aka Ali Davut Sarikaya, aka Dr David Kaye) lied about his personal credentials, purchased a PhD from The American College of Metaphysical Theology – a US diploma mill – and “misled clients over several years into believing he had relevant credentials to deliver counselling services.”

Alarmingly, Sarikaya was treating people with PTSD.

According to Kate McClymont at The Sydney Morning Herald, when Sarikaya was confronted by these charges, he loudly protested his innocence, but later admitted he had lied under oath about his qualifications.

But theft? To my mind, taking money from vulnerable clients who have paid for psychology services you’re not legally qualified to provide is certainly a form of theft.

Michael Norman Jessop

Also, this week, we heard that Michael Jessop, the Trumpet of Patriots candidate for Dickson, is currently on bail, facing serious criminal charges for stalking, wilful damage and illegal possession of weapons – none of which prevents him standing for election to our Federal Parliament.

While conducting a search of Mr Jessop’s car last year, police allegedly found “a shovel, axe, gloves, duct tape, ropes and a cadaver bag.”

Mr Jessop protests his innocence, but I suspect he’ll have an excellent defence along the lines on, “Come on guys! They had a sale at Bunnings.”

I look forward with bated breath to seeing how this all plays out in court, but it’s important to stress these are currently just allegations and Mr Jessop must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Gabrial Pennicott (aka Gabe Pennycott, Gabe Pennycote, Gabrial P.)

And then there is Gabrial Pennicott – running for Trumpet of Patriots in the seat of Wide Bay. It is upon Mr Pennicott I focussed my research this week.

Photo: Trio of Patriots – L to R: Gabrial Pennicott, Michael Jessop, David Sakiraya (photo collage from Pedestrian). Would you buy a used car from these guys?

On X, Pennicott describes himself as “husband, Dad, patriot.” On his Facebook profile – which is locked – he adds an extra line to tell us he is, “God’s chosen vessel to free His people from cerebral palsy.” Remarkably, I can find no other information about this divinely-ordained campaign anywhere on the internet.

According to his bio on Trumpet of Patriots, Pennicott is:

“A devoted Christian, family man and community leader, [who] brings life experience and unwavering commitment to the people of Wide Bay. Married with eight children and five grandchildren, Gabrial has faced life’s highs and lows, shaping his deep understanding of the challenges everyday Australians encounter. His active leadership in his church and role on the board of a traveling itinerant ministry underscore his dedication to serving others and fostering hope within communities.​

Butter wouldn’t melt.

Like his colleagues Sarikaya and Jessop, Pennicott also believes he’s been stitched up, but the Canadian and Australian courts begged to differ and jailed him for fraud.

Of course, now, Pennicott has “found God”, “seen the light”, and is cleansed of the sin of ripping millions of dollars off vulnerable retirees, skipping the country, adopting a false name, and setting up exactly the same kind of scam in Canada.

A few years in the clink, a quick dip in a baptismal bath, a couple of “praise the Lords” and voila – reborn without sin as an ideal candidate to serve as your Federal parliamentarian.

Rhea Nath at Pedestrian provides us with a quick rundown on Pennicott’s background:

“As reported by ABC News last week, a Queensland candidate for Wide Bay was revealed to have been convicted and jailed for fraud in 2011. Gabrial Pennicott, who was sentenced to four years and seven months in jail, was extradited from Canada and found guilty in a Victorian court for 23 fraud-related charges, per a report by the Commonwealth Department of Prosecutions.”

Questions were raised about the legitimacy of Pennicott’s operations in 2002. ASIC started investigating him in 2003 but did not interview him until 2004. Understandably spooked, he fled the country – reportedly within hours of being interviewed. At the time of his arrest in Canada in 2007, Pennicott actually faced 47 charges.

Ultimately, Pennicott was held in a Canadian jail before being bailed, then extradited to Australia. Here, he was tried and ultimately served three years and three months in prison. You can read a summary of the charges and his sentence, here.

Gabrial Pennicott was born in Tasmania. His parents, Neil and Ronda, were well-respected, law-abiding and financially successful hoteliers who ran the Park Hotel – later rebuilt as The Black Buffalo – in North Hobart. Pennicott has four sisters. The two I was able to track down on Facebook seem to be absolutely lovely ladies – one, in particular, is an LGBTIQ+ ally. In fact, the entire Pennicott family seem like amazing, hard-working, responsible people. Nothing written here should reflect on them.

Neil and Ronda Pennicott appear to have done everything possible to give young Gabrial the best possible start in life. He was educated at the Friends Quaker School and at the Anglican Hutchins School in Hobart before attending Geelong Grammar. Pennicott even had the hide to attend his “Graduating Class of 1984” 40 year reunion!

Effectively born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Pennicott had every opportunity to build a successful, wealthy, honest life like other members of his family. Instead, he became involved with a real estate fraudster called Henry Kaye, at whose crooked knee, he learned the gentle art of scamming pensioners for their last cent. Having learned from the master, Pennicott set up his own company.

Between 2001 and 2003, Pennicott, described as a “high-flying Melbourne businessman”, presided over a string of failed property investment and finance schemes which defrauded his clients of “up to $20 million”. Ultimately, according to Kate McClymont, Pennicott was pursued for $1.5 million in damages.

Explaining the discrepancy:

“20 investors [had] begun court action to reclaim $3 million they allege they lost by investing in Pennicott’s IBP Corporation, [later] Sunset Capital. The assets of Sunset Capital [were] liquidated to pay some debts. But Pennicott had more than 200 clients, leading to estimates his company’s total debts could be $20 million.”

According to statements made to ASIC, Pennicott’s disgruntled former clients alleged he had:

“… forged signatures, falsified property valuations and rental income estimates and even staged a burglary of his own office so that incriminating documents disappeared.”

When things started getting too hot for Pennicott in late 2004, he acquired a passport from the Caribbean island of Dominica and made a dash overseas.

For a time, Pennicott divided his time between Dominica and “a luxury Newport Bluffs villa in California’s Newport Beach” before settling in Canada where he found himself in the town of Kelowna BC, known as a haven for wealthy retirees.

Given his haste to flee the country, who can blame Pennicott for leaving behind his wife and four children with no visible means of support. According to his first wife, he left them penniless and dependent on social welfare to survive. Great Dad that he is, Pennicott agreed to pay the kids’ private school fees, but was subsequently sued for non-payment of tuition. Meanwhile, Pennicott rented himself a waterside mansion in Kelowna.

Here, adopting the aliases Gabe Pennycott or Gabe Pennycote, he charged punters thousands of dollars to attend investment seminars, offering deals that were genuinely too good to be true.

According to local newspaper, The Province (1 January, 2006):

“Pennicott has been advertising his wealth-creation ‘business mastery
program’ seminars in Kelowna, charging $3,950 for a two-and-a-half-day
workshop promising to double investors’ money in six months. He even
offers a 200-per-cent money-back guarantee. Investors are directed to pick
up their refund at a West Vancouver business address at 1489 Marine Dr. in
Ambleside Village that turns out to be a post-office box.

In his ads for the Nov. 4 seminars at the Grand Okanagan Lakefront Resort
and Conference Centre in Kelowna, Pennycott boasts: “In 2001, Gabe
implemented three years of solid learning and created a new business that
turned over $52 million in its first year from an investment of only
$3,000. Financial success is so easy when you know how.”

A handsome, charismatic, apparently wealthy businessman, Pennicott wooed and won a stunningly beautiful woman who, at length, became his second wife. Cynthia (known as Cyndi) was (and is) a devout Christian; the daughter of parents who run their own well-respected ministry in Abbotsford, Canada. Apparently, Pennicott did reveal his legal difficulties to his future wife and in-laws – no doubt protesting his innocence – and it seems they were generously willing to overlook his shady past.

However, perhaps Gabe didn’t spill all the beans. When the shit hit the fan in Canada in late 2005-early 2006, local newspaper The Province suggests that Pennicott’s devoutly Christian in-laws were blind-sided by an allegation possibly more shocking than all the rest. They report that Cyndi’s mum:

“… did not respond when asked if she knew that the 38-year-old [Pennicott] is alleged to have once run an Internet pornography site out of Canada, under the name Pure Filth Communities Ltd.”

“I’m innocent!” cried Pennicott when the mounties thundered up to his door in April 2007. Poor, misunderstood Gabe fervently declared his enthusiasm for returning to Australia to clear his name. (You can’t help thinking he could have done this more quickly without the Dominican passport and rather bizarre detour via the US and Canada.)

In 2007, facing the prospect of a trial in an Australian court – hallelujah! – Gabe found God. It’s amazing that no crook has ever thought of that before, right?

Pennicott now heads a business consulting company called YDMA – Your Digital Marketing Agency. Registered in 2023, it’s a legit company with an ACN and an ABN registered under the business name, Wise Advocate Pty Limited, with a swanky Gold Coast address: 2 Corporate Ct, Gold Coast MC, Queensland, 9726, Australia.

Looks posh, eh?

YMDA also has a very professional looking website which features the shiny faces of its executives and management consultants in classy black and white thumbnails. The captions reveal only their first names – though you can find their last names if you search. It seems like a thriving, successful company with a good-sized staff and international representation. But, having looked at a lot of astro-turf websites in my time, there was something about it that niggled at me.

The first thing that became apparent is that most of the staff listed on the YDMA website don’t live at the Gold Coast, or even in Australia. In fact, not even Gabrial Pennicott lives at the Gold Coast where his office is registered. Responding to questions about his place of residence, Pennicott recently revealed that, while his office is at the Gold Coast, he lives “just south of Gympie.” Turns out, “just south of Gympie” is somewhere around the Noosa/Peregian area where his current wife dabbles in real estate.

So, who works at that sparkly corporate headquarters at Corporate Centre One, 2 Corporate Court, Bundall? No-one as far as I can tell.

And then, I remembered something I read about Pennicott’s operation in Canada. There, it transpired, Pennicott’s West Vancouver corporate address was not a flash glass, marble and chrome set-up in a swanky high rise. Nope. It was a UPS (United Parcel Service) office. His business address, where clients were directed to pick up guaranteed refunds, was nothing but a post-office box. Intrigued, I looked up Serviced Offices at 2 Corporate Court and bingo! What do you know? A company called Intellispace – Serviced Offices Gold Coast – is located at exactly that address.

Now, of course, that’s not illegal, nor necessarily shonky. But it does seem maybe just a leetle bit of a red flag.

And then, I started looking for reviews of YDMA.

One review from Elijah Chique helps us understand how Pennicott’s business may work. Chique writes:

“I went into business with Gabrial on July 25, 2022, after being lured by a likely fake ‘grant’ offer. Gabrial claimed he could license my business within six months, but it turned out to be a scam.”

I have no way of establishing whether what Chique says is true, and I’m not claiming it is. You can read the rest of his one-star review here.

There’s a similar review at the same link from a Liam Harman who says:

“Gabriel [sic] is one of the biggest liars!! After talking to him on the phone I could tell most of what he was saying was lies. I work in the industry he was claiming to know all about. He was just making up lie after lie to try and land a new victim. He then pressured me for weeks on end to give him 20k up front to make me a website … call after call once he got a whiff of my price range.”

Disgruntled former staff? Overly-sensitive clients? Jealous competitors? Complete randoms just making up shit on the internet? All these things are possible. But, here’s the thing: when you have a history like Gabrial Pennicott’s these kinds of allegations tend to have the ring of truth – even if they’re not true. As my grandma used to recite to me: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

There is little biographical information on any of the executives or staff available at the YDMA website. But, I did find an extensive bio for Pennicott here, which includes his stellar work for “Wok in a Box”. If all it says is true, Pennicott must be rolling in so much money you have to wonder why the hell he’s hassling people to stump up cash for websites, flogging real estate in Noosa, and running for a comparatively low-paying job as an MP.

Or perhaps this has something to do with it?

Finally, I took a close look at the executives and staff listed on the YDMA website. Most seem to be simply casual contract workers. Very few of them list YDMA on their LInkedIn profiles, and those that do have other jobs – some of them full-time. Most only worked at YDMA for short periods. Quite a few, still listed on the YDMA site as current employees, noted on LinkedIn that they no longer worked there.

On ScamAdviser (where YDMA has 3 reviews – one positive, two negative) I found someone claiming to be a former YDMA employee. Andrea D claimed:

“They [YDMA] employ good people, but they offshore them so they can get away with not paying salaries. So in effect, they [the employees] bankroll their business using ‘unauthorised loans’ from their own [businesses]. They still owe me 6 weeks of salary after well over a year. They know that going after them is more expensive than just swallowing the loss. Do not accept a job from this company!”

I understand we live in a digital world and remote work is a thing, but I did wonder at this business model for a company which Pennicott purports to be so wildly successful. Turning to ChatGPT, I asked why a company might be set up this way.

“What’s offshoring?” I asked the AI. ChatGPT replied that:

“Offshoring means hiring workers in another country, often where labor is cheaper. It legal and common when done transparently – think remove support teams in the Philippines or India [but] a disreputable company might hire offshore workers under the guise of ‘contractor” status or use vague ones that don’t promise guaranteed payment.

They might also delay or deny payments with excuses like ‘waiting on client funds’ or ‘admin issues.’ Some might even ghost workers once the work is done.”

To be clear, I’m not accusing YDMA of doing any of these things, I was simply curious about Andrea D’s allegation..

Naturally, given his past, I was also curious about Pennicott’s religious views. In an official Trumpet of Patriot campaign video, Pennicott tells us of his mission to reclaim Australia for God. According to Pennicott, prophecy tells us that a global revolution to reclaim the world for God will emanate from Australia – “the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.” Apparently, Pennicott’s motivation for seeking election is to help to realise that prophecy and has nothing whatsoever to do with an MP’s generous salary and superannuation benefits.

What Pennicott describes in his video is known in fundamentalist churches as “Kingdom” thinking – the idea that Christians must build a Kingdom of God here on earth before Jesus will return. It’s a belief widely held by Trumpist Christians and the purpose for which their Project 25 document was written. The strategy for achieving this goal is to reclaim the 7 Mountains of Culture for God, so that, ultimately, only Christians will sit at the head of all government and public institutions. (See my blog post “Christian Dominionism: Follow the Money“) for more on this.)

One of those “mountains” is business. In 2018, Pennicott tweeted that his company, Baxton Media (also a real estate enterprise, founded in Tasmania but now operating from Noosaville under the name Salt 4 Property):

“… creates and builds businesses on Kingdom principles for Kingdom purposes that impact the whole world.”

But now, Gabrial Pennicott has fixed his sights on summitting the mountain of politics. Indeed! It is for the purpose of establishing a Christian theocracy that this corporate Christian crusader is currently clipping on Clive’s crampons.

This is all mildly amusing. But, before we dismiss Pennicott’s sins as simply “white collar” or “white shoe” crime, perhaps we should consider the words of one of his victims, who described the extreme stress caused by Pennicott’s actions:

“There’s a lot of people who have died, had strokes and heart attacks, because of this.”

What a legacy. And now, by running for politics, Pennicott brings all his past to the fore again, blackening the family name, and no doubt causing great distress to relatives who have nothing whatsoever to do with his former crimes or current business interests.

In closing, one happy thing I am delighted to tell you is that, at some stage after they relocated to Australia, Gabrial Pennicott’s lovely Canadian Christian wife, Cynthia, departed stage right. Smart move, girlfriend! Pennicott has since moved on to wife number three, but his ex, too, has remarried – and upgraded spectacularly in the husband stakes. Well done, Cyndi!

Asked about the antics of Gabrial Pennicott, real estate industry consumer advocate, Neil Jenman, said:

“When it comes to Mr Pennicott, I have two words of advice for Canadian consumers – stay away.”

That may also be excellent advice to the voters of Wide Bay and, indeed, to anyone considering placing a vote for Trumpet of Patriots.

Chrys Stevenson

NB: I’ve made every attempt at fairness and accuracy in the article above, but, in cobbling together information from many different sources, it is possible I have made errors. If I have, I’m happy to correct them. However, as Mr Pennicott says on his own website: “the Company makes no warranties or representations as to its [the website’s] accuracy. The Company assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of the Site.”

If it’s good enough for Gabe, it’s good enough for me.

—–

A short note about Australia being “the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.”

Bayside Christian Church, who, unlike Pennicott, have done their research, tell us correctly that:

In May 1606, de Quirós [took] possession of ‘all the … lands that I have newly discovered … and all this region of the south as far as the Pole, which from this time shall be called Austrialia [sic] del Espiritu Santo.’

But de Quirós hadn’t discovered the southern continent, only the largest island in what is today known as Vanuatu.”

Who the Hell is Suellen Wrightson?

30 Replies

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past few weeks, you will have been bombarded with ads from Clive Palmer’s new Trumpet of Patriots party, featuring party leader, Suellen Wrightson.

No doubt, like me, you asked yourself:

“Who the hell is Suellen Wrightson?”

My first instinct was, “Don’t know, don’t care.” But, early last month, when Ms Wrightson did a jtrain-wreck interview with Chris Kenny on Sky News my interest was piqued.

“Seriously?” says a bemused Chris Kenny, “You’re putting yourself up as the next Prime Minister? You’ve never even been in parliament!”

“Absolutely!” says a confident Wrightson, “…. the bar isn’t very high.”

“It’s a little bit rich for you to be telling the Australian people through a lot of paid advertisements that you’re going to be the next Prime Minister. It’s not realistic,” says Kenny, barely containing his mirth.

“They’re looking for someone else, Chris, and I’m more than happy to be that person.”

Of course, Ms Wrightson has absolutely no chance of clearing even a low bar to become the next Prime Minister of Australia. But the hubris of this completely unknown person putting herself up as the leader of our country, responsible for 27 million people and a trillion dollar GDP, made me think we really did need an answer to the question, “Who the hell is Suellen Wrightson?”

Whether male or female, surely someone applying for such an onerous and important job should have an impressive resumé.

Love them or hate them, at least the current candidates have some qualifications. Anthony Albanese has an economics degree and nearly 30 years experience in politics, while Peter Dutton has (an apparently hard-won) business degree, is a graduate of the Queensland Police Academy, and runs a multi-million dollar childcare business. As public figures we know who their families are, and even where they live. Transparency is the price you pay if you enter politics, and it’s fair that voters have a well-rounded idea of who they’re voting for; especially if that person aspires to be our next PM.

So, I went in search of Suellen Wrightson’s credentials and personal history and … zilch, nada. Her Facebook page is locked, her LinkedIn page tells us only that she is a “Chief of Staff” at Parliament House, Australia. Beyond that, there is absolutely no information.

On Twitter (X) we learn that Suellen is the Trumpet of Patriots’ candidate for Hunter. On Instagram, where she has just 234 followers, she tells us only she “loves Australia” and has posted a single post – a photo of herself with Senator Ralph Babet – for whom, I subsequently learned, she is (or was) Chief of Staff. Hardly an achievement to be proud of!

Earlier this year, another researcher on X (@SpamBotX, aka Bender) addressed the vexing question, “Who the hell is Suellen Wrightson?”. They made the following observation:

“What little can be pieced together comes from scattered public records, her own vague statements.

… She’s either squeaky clean or just too irrelevant for anyone to dig up real dirt. There’s no smoking gun—no arrests, no scandals, no juicy tabloid fodder.

… Wrightson’s origins are as thrilling as stale bread. She grew up in Swansea on Lake Macquarie, went to Swansea High School (per the same 2014 profile), and that’s it for the parental trail. No names, no occupations, no influence mentioned. Were they working-class battlers, or did they spoil her into thinking she’s prime minister material? We don’t know, and she’s not telling.

Most politicians milk their upbringing for relatability—Wrightson doesn’t. … Her parents are a non-factor …”

Trumpet of Patriots, as the name suggests, is Clive Palmer’s vehicle for introducing Trumpist politics to Australia. There can be no doubt about this. At a media event in February this year, Palmer said, unequivocally:

“The party believes in the policies of Donald Trump which has shown to be effective in bringing management back on track. Australia needs Trump policies, Australians want them.”

To be fair, that was before Trump crashed the stockmarket, started a trade-war with China and “mistakenly” deported a US citizen, Abrego Garcia, who has been a hard-working, respectable member of American society for 14 years, employed, married and raising three children, two of them disabled. There are troubling shades of the Martin Niemöller quote here: “First they came for the socialists …”

Yet, Wrightson is completely on board the MAGA bandwagon. She says:

“The world is changing. In the United States of America, government waste and corruption are finally being exposed.”

Around the world, alarm bells are sounding about Trump’s increasingly authoritarian, anti-democratic government, his indiscriminate use of executive orders, his hate campaigns against, and efforts to silence, anyone who opposes him, his and Musk’s profiteering, and his blatant disregard for the law. But Mr Palmer and Ms Wrightson have committed to bring this dystopian circus to Australia.

Those who lived through, or who have studied, the rise of Adolf Hitler and other dictators see frightening similarities in Trump’s exercise of power. And yet, this is the kind of regime Clive Palmer wants to impose on us – presumably with Suellen Wrightson playing the role of Trump, and Palmer, the jaunty billionaire sidekick – profiting from the anti-union, anti-regulation, low corporate tax, climate-change-denying, fossil-fuel-loving policies of his prime ministerial puppet.

I will not show, or quote from, Ms Wrightson’s disgraceful transphobic advertisements. But it’s worth noting at this point that one of Hitler’s very first moves, in a ‘practice run’ for the Holocaust, was to target transgender people.

As Brandy Shillace writes in “Scientific American”:

“The Nazi ideal had been based on white, cishet (that is, cisgender and heterosexual) masculinity masquerading as genetic superiority. Any who strayed were considered as depraved, immoral, and worthy of total eradication. What began as a project of “protecting” German youth and raising healthy families had become, under Hitler, a mechanism for genocide.”

Using a similar playbook, Trump is doing the same thing in the United States. Meanwhile, Wrightson – the stereotypical wolf in sheep’s clothing – is leading the charge here. It’s a despicable, confected, fear campaign based on misinformation. It targets a vulnerable group which deserves empathy and compassion, not contempt. But, folks, this is the way authoritarians roll and Ms Wrightson appears to be happy, not only to join with, but to lead this bandwagon of bumbling bigots.

Fortunately, Trumpet of Patriots (or as Palmer likes to pronounce it, Trump … pet of Patriots) will not gain enough votes to move Ms Wrightson and her family into The Lodge. Ms Wrightson and Mr Palmer aren’t stupid; they know that, despite what they’re saying publicly. Their campaign is predicated on the lie that they expect Ms Wrightson to become prime minister.

In fact, winning isn’t really the aim of Trumpet of Patriots. The aim is to gain a great deal of publicity for policies that are advantageous to Palmer’s already swollen coffers. By exposure and repetition, the strategy is to widen the Overton Window, so that policies and ideas which might once have caused political damage to a political candidate, become acceptable – perhaps even advantageous.

It benefits no-one except the rich to follow the Trumpist agenda, but Trump and Palmer (and before them, Hitler) cleverly run a parallel fear campaign against minorities – first demonising them, blaming them for all the country’s woes, and then promising they will punish them. People – ordinary, “good”, nice people – vote out of fear, not realising (or caring) they are voting against their own economic interests.

And here is the most important thing to remember: for leaders like Trump, Milei (Argentina), Orbán (Hungary), Bolsonaro (Brazil), and yes – Hitler – to gain power, requires the support of millions of ordinary people. Not monsters. Not moustache-twirling villains. Not creepy bald men stroking weird bald cats. Just ordinary punters who fall for the lie that there are people in the country who threaten their status, their safety, their security, their livelihoods, their culture, the purity of their race, and the moral upbringing of their children.

It’s a tale as old as time; and it’s just that – a fairytale. But not one with a “happily ever after.”

In this story, if the guy (or gal) with the loud voice, the big ideas and the common touch isn’t elected, those people (the ones who have been ‘othered’) will “ruin the country” – maybe eat your cats, eat your dogs, or sneak into public toilets disguised as women and rape your daughters. None of it is true, of course. It’s a vicious game of dehumanisation and demonisation for fun and profit.

The Holocaust didn’t happen only because of Hitler (though he was certainly the instigator) – it happened because millions of absolutely ordinary, nice, normal non-Jewish Germans either supported him, or did nothing to oppose him. You can read more about the complicity of ordinary people here, at the Holocaust Encyclopedia and in Robert Gellately’s (2020), Hitler’s True Believers: How Ordinary People Became Nazis.

In fact, Gellately could be writing about Trump, or Palmer – or Wrightson – when he says:

“Subsisting just below the surface of the Führer’s grand vision was a jumble of incoherent and protean ideas – a mix that party leaders used to their own advantage, opportunistically alternating between positions, depending on their audience.“

Does Wrightson understand the playbook she’s working from? I doubt it. But it doesn’t exonerate her. To be clear, I am not accusing Ms Wrightson or Mr Palmer of being Nazis and I don’t think they are. I’m simply observing that their political tactics, their targeting of minorities, and their nationalist, populist approach, are spookily similar to that adopted by the National Socialist Party in Germany in the 1930s.

Reviewing How Ordinary People Became Nazis, Marcus Colla says Gellately provides:

“… a vision of a community that plainly demarcated its lines of inclusion and exclusion, and into which violence and racial engineering were baked. For those it embraced, it was emancipating, even exciting. For those it excluded, it was lethal.”

Ms Wrightson may not be (is clearly not) a Nazi, but I suspect that’s a quote that will reverberate with the transgender people Ms Wrightson has besieged in a barrage of advertisements and misinformation on television and online.

Unlikely as Wrightson’s elevation to Australia’s top job might be, I felt it was incumbent on me, as a researcher, to find out more about Suellen than she was clearly willing to divulge. Sure, I had a glimmer of hope that I might find some ‘dirt’ (I didn’t). What I found, instead, was exactly the kind of person who tends to be complicit with authoritarian regimes – a dead-set ordinary, aspirational Australian from Sydney’s western suburbs; born into the working class and now living, not rich, but in moderate middle-class, aspirational comfort, in the Hunter Valley, in or around Cessnock. This is exactly the same kind of profile that fits a vast majority of Trump supporters.

It’s no coincidence. The Wrightsons are right in the pocket of the kinds of people extremist right-wing authoritarian leaders around the world are targeting in their efforts to dismantle democracy. But, of course, the lie they are telling is that they’re saving democracy. I think it’s quite likely Suellen Wrightson actually believes that.

Suellen Wrightson is no Donald Trump – but she is exactly the kind of person who is swayed by propaganda, motivated by fear and self-interest, and inhibited by a lack of education and critical thinking skills. And now she has taken upon herself to spread the MAGA virus to others.

I did try to engage with Ms Wrightson on Twitter (X) by politely correcting some of the misinformation she was posting. Her reply was to the effect of: “Clearly, I don’t care what you think.” And then …



So much for free speech.

Lest I be accused of “doxing” Ms Wrightson, please be assured that everything I have discovered about her and her family is publicly available on social media, in newspaper reports and media releases and on ancestry.com. I haven’t hacked into anything. I haven’t engaged a private detective. I’ve researched, but I haven’t snooped. I uncovered far more information than I think it’s fair to disclose (nothing scandalous, and I neither looked for, nor found her home address). I’m a researcher, not a stalker.

I’ve only published what I think is relevant to Ms Wrightson’s candidature, to get some semblance of a three-dimensional view of the woman who aspires to be our next PM and her husband, who will be our new “first bloke” None of this would have been necessary if Ms Wrightson had not been so secretive about her personal history.

Suellen Wrightson was born Suellen Marree Buckley in Sydney’s Western suburbs, the youngest of six daughters, two of them, twins.

During Suellen’s early childhood, her father was a bricklayer and a former under-21s footballer of some repute. Her mother was a nurse. They married very young and were raising their family in and around Campbelltown before moving north for a better, more prosperous life. Suellen’s Dad seems to have been the typical, Anglo-Celtic, working class, Aussie bloke; a man who liked to tinker in his shed, and with one of those great Aussie nicknames like Davo, Robbo, Gazza or Bazza. Suellen’s father was not much interested in politics himself, but supportive of his youngest daughter’s political aspirations.

Suellen’s grandfather served overseas during the World War II and was well aware of the dangers of fascists like Hitler. Her grandmother told her grandchildren stories about the atrocities that took place under Hitler and about Auschwitz and similar camps – the result of the dehumanisation and persecution of minorities.

As I suspected, the family was Irish Catholic – but non-practising since discovering a member of the wider family group was abused by a priest.

In the 1970s, the Buckleys moved from Narellan to Swansea, and, later Cessnock. One relative recalls that, at the time of the move to the Hunter Valley, there were 12 people living in the Buckleys’ three-bedroom Narellan home. It was certainly not a privileged upbringing.

Suellen attended Swansea State High School. There is no record I can find to show Ms Wrightson has anything more than a bog-standard high school education. If she has an economics, law or business degree, or anything else that might qualify her to run a country with a trillion dollar GDP, she certainly isn’t crowing about it on the internet.

The family survived the horror of the Newcastle earthquake in 1989, with at least one family member trapped at their place of work for a time.

After school, Suellen met and married coal-miner, Dean Wrightson, and went on to have two children – both of whom had the typical Aussie school-kid job as casual workers at the Kurri Kurri KFC.

My rationale for disclosing this publicly available, and completely harmless, non-incriminating information is simply to show how very, very ordinary the Wrightsons are. Indeed, if you met them at a barbecue and managed to stay off the topic of politics, you’d probably go home talking about what delightful, normal people they are.

The Wrightsons are a large, well-known, family in the Newcastle area – comfortable, but not necessarily rich. At one stage Dean was working as an under manager (responsible for supervising safety and compliance underground) at the (now-closed) Donaldson coal-mine near Newcastle. I understand from a mutual acquaintance that he also worked at the Austar mine near Cessnock – where his former workmates are reportedly greatly amused by the idea of Suellen being Clive’s new poster-child. (OK, I snooped a bit.)

Both the Wrightsons and Buckleys are large, loving, law-abiding, close-knit ‘typical Aussie’ families.

Some members of Suellen’s family are die-hard football fans. Suellen and Dean don’t mind a day at the footie, but also enjoy things a little swankier. In 2017 they became Gold Members of the Mudgee Golf Club.

Like Suellen, Dean Wrightson’s online presence is virtually nil. His Facebook is locked and he doesn’t appear to have a LinkedIn profile. In fact, the Wrightsons seem to have instructed their families on both sides to lock down their Facebook profiles and remain schtum. Most, though not all, have complied. (I suspect when this is published, more pressure will be brought to bear on the non-conformers from the leader of the party that stands so proudly for “free speech.”)

Now, if Dean Wrightson were only a spouse of an aspiring MP, I’d say, good on him for protecting his privacy. But Dean Wrightson has also been involved with Clive Palmer as a United Australia Party candidate, and, we are told, will be the husband of our next prime minister. So, I reckon he’s fair game.

In 2019, when Suellen Wrightson was Assistant NSW State Director of the UAP, she, Dean, and their daughter, Meg, all ran as UAP candidates in the election. And yet, even as political candidates, there is no personal information about Dean, and little about Meg, publicly available.

Despite Clive Palmer splashing out for a double-page spread in The Australian featuring his UAP candidates for the 2019 election, neither Dean’s nor Meg’s photos appeared. My suspicion is they were simply “place holders” so that Clive could say he was running candidates in every electorate. No matter, as The Guardian reported that year, that 40 per cent of the UAP candidates (including the Wrightsons) didn’t live in the electorates in which they were standing.

“Don’t worry, Clive!” I can imagine Suellen saying, “We’ll just put Dean and Meg’s names down for those vacant candidacies – I’ll tell them they won’t have to do anything. It’s not like they’re going to win.”

Am I too cynical? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Luckily for Dean he didn’t find any more popularity at the ballot box than he did with his former employees at the Donaldson coal-mine. To be fair, perhaps there were employees at Donaldson who thought Dean was a great bloke and drinking buddy, but those posting on the ex-Donaldson coal-mine Facebook group don’t appear to have held our future “first-bloke” in high regard.

“Small man syndrome, that fucker,” says one former Donaldson worker.

“Douchebag syndrome,” adds another.

“Lord Farquhar,” says a third, riffing on the mood and referencing Lord Farquaad the diminutive tyrant, from the movie Shrek.

A fourth makes a violent comment which I don’t countenance and won’t repeat.

A fifth laughs that when Wrightson visited her place of work, her role as a manager required that she feign a friendly smile.

Does it seem mean-spirited to post this? Not when you consider this is the man who, according to his wife, will soon be Australia’s next “first bloke” and representing us at all manner of official, diplomatic and charity events.

Suellen Wrightson has a long association with Clive Palmer and his various political parties She joined the Palmer United Party when it was first formed in 2013 and ran, unsuccessfully, as a PUP candidate in that year’s Senate election.

Prior to this she was associated, in some capacity, with the Liberal Party. But, as our frustrated anonymous researcher on X (@SpamBotX, aka Bender) posted earlier this year:

“Suellen Wrightson’s tenure with the Liberal National Party (LNP) is a murky, underwhelming footnote in her stumbling career—a brief and poorly documented stint that exposes her as a political drifter with no staying power or substance.

Unlike her more publicized roles with Clive Palmer’s outfits, her LNP phase is shrouded in ambiguity, with scant evidence of impact or commitment.

Wrightson’s association with the LNP predates her 2013 jump to the Palmer United Party (PUP), but details are frustratingly thin. She’s described in passing as an “ex-Liberal Party member” in a 2014 Newcastle Herald profile, suggesting she was active in the NSW branch of the Liberal Party. Beyond that, it’s a guessing game—dates, roles, and achievements are either unrecorded or too trivial to matter.

No precise start or end date exists for her LNP membership. It likely spanned the early 2000s to around 2012-2013, before she defected to PUP. This vagueness alone screams incompetence—serious players document their credentials. Wrightson can’t even pin down her own history.”

Later, from 2012-2015, Wrightson served as a “United Australia Party backed, independent” city councillor in Cessnock before resigning in 2016 to take another tilt at Federal politics with Uncle Clive’s Palmer United Party (PUP). And then, once again, in 2019 – this time with her camera-shy family in tow. 

It pains me to question another woman’s ability for independent thought and agency, but Uncle Clive is emerging very much as something of a Svengali to Wrightson’s Trilby in this narrative.

“… in the medical field as a chronic disease management co-ordinator working closely with diabetic and asthmatic patients in addition to performing medical practice accreditation.”

I’m not sure what that gobbledegook means, and I’m no wiser for searching for Wrightson’s professional history online. As a former executive, familiar with job applicants trying to fudge their resumés, it had an oddly familiar ring to it.

If Ms Wrightson does, indeed, have impressive credentials in the medical field, why aren’t they on LinkedIn? For someone, like Wrightson, whose CV appears to suggest nothing more than a basic and unremarkable high school education, you’d think the prestige of a position in the medical profession would at least warrant mentioning the name of the company she worked for. Unless, of course, all that vague language is just a bit of “smoke and mirrors.”

Wrightson also appears to have dabbled in real estate at Andrew McGrath’s First National Real Estate, Swansea. In fact, she is still listed as an agent. But like her other “careers” there are no achievements to be found online. As “Bender” says, “No listings, no sales – no presence.” Wrightson’s “Rate My Agent” profile, which was live a few weeks ago is now mysteriously blank – although it didn’t feature any negative (or positive) reviews.

So far, Ms Wrightson’s political career has not been a rip-roaring success, but you have to give her 10/10 for tenacity. Despite winning only 625 of of 97,020 votes in 2019, and a measly 400 votes in her 2022 tilt for a Senate seat, Ms Wrightson is back in 2025, confident she’ll be the next PM. I’m imagining her packing her bags ready for a move to The Lodge and looking forward to long, lazy weekends at Kirribilli, entertaining Mr Trump and Mr Musk in style – maybe she or Dean can whip up a fish curry.

Suellen reminds me of one of those super-confident contestants convinced they have the chops to win American Idol, absolutely sure they sing better than Adam Lambert, but, in fact, warbling in an off-key impersonation of Tiny Tim; not a rock star, just a normal, everyday, pitchy punter.

Referencing the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, Hannah Arendt spoke of “the banality of evil.” Evil rarely comes packaged like the villain in a Victorian melodrama. More often, it comes in the guise of perfectly nice, astoundingly ordinary people, who’ve bought into a populist cause and ideology which purports to serve the ‘ordinary bloke’s’ interests. In fact, such causes are inevitably a Trojan horse for the vested interests of those who care for nothing or no-one but themselves, but need everyday punters to get them into power.

That’s not to paint everyone from Ms Wrightson’s demographic background with the same brush. While some family members are on board, at least one member of Ms Wrightson’s close family is virulently anti-Trump. In 2020, long before Wrightson went full-MAGA, her relative wrote :

“This clown #PresidentDonaldTrump refused to denounce white supremacy at his first presidential debate with Joe Biden! It’s bad enough that he’s disrespected every diverse culture & their historic value …”

I thank them for reminding us that being kind, or choosing self-interest at the expense of others is a choice – it’s not pre-ordained by your family, education, upbringing, or social status.

People – some people – buy into hateful campaigns because of their pre-existing prejudices. Because they have been “battlers” and now have a modicum of wealth they are inclined to guard it jealously. Things that are untrue, or damaging to others, can seem reasonable, because many people live in echo-chambers, and because their education has not equipped them to think critically or to fact-check and evaluate information with an open mind. (I always suggest that you should research to try to prove yourself wrong.)

Some people. Nice people. “Salt of the earth” likeable people: that “lovely couple that lives next door” or that “nice tradesman who did such a great job on the driveway” or “that pretty blonde real estate agent who showed us the house.” Without them, the billionaires, the Trumps, the transphobes, the xenophobes, the would-be dictators, would have no traction; would pose no threat.

Having done a deep dive, I think Ms Wrightson is one such perfectly nice, delightfully ordinary, likeable person. And that’s a real worry – not because she will become our next Prime Minister, but because Clive Palmer is exploiting that relatability to convince a lot of people that what he has her selling is perfectly reasonable: good for them, and good for our country. It’s a fairytale, but not one with a happy ending.

Chrys Stevenson

See also: “How election candidates are boosting The Noticer, a news site promoting neo-Nazi ideologies” ABC NEWS, 14 April 2025

See my follow up post: Trumpet of Patriots – Honour Among Thieves?