DESPITE Clive Palmer’s comments about China receiving international criticism, Palmer United Party MLA Larisa Lee says she does not believe they have caused any damage to the party’s reputation in the Northern Territory.
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Mr Palmer, who is the federal member for the Queensland seat of Fairfax, was pilloried last week after describing the Chinese government as “bastards” and “mongrels” who shot their own people.
In a further blow for the fledgling party’s credibility, Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie took an additional swipe at the country’s biggest trading partner by suggesting Australia should prepare for a “Chinese communist invasion”.
Ms Lee is the member for Arnhem and donned PUP colours with fellow MLAs Francis Xavier and Alison Anderson in 2014 after a bitter and public falling out with the governing Country Liberal Party.
While Ms Lee admitted she had not heard Mr Palmer or Ms Lambie’s comments, she said she believed the party had a strong local following.
“I get random people coming up to me and telling me to keep my head up,” she said when asked what she thought about Mr Palmer’s inflammatory statement.
“I think we really need to look at our platform and … the image PUP wants to reflect and create.
“I really don’t want to comment on what he has to say; what he says is his business, really.
“He has his view and we have ours.
“I mean, you know, [PUP] is all good here in the Northern Territory.
