What you need to know about the 'Trumpet' texts being sent to millions of Australians

Daily Mail​

30-04-2025

Trumpet of Patriots chairman Clive Palmer has spoken out after his party sent out a message to millions of Australians last week, leading many Aussies to ask the same question: How did he get my number?
Political parties are exempt from spam and privacy laws, and are able to send unsolicited text messages without an opt-out option. Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday he'd be 'happy' to ban the texts but added, 'I'm not sure that that fits with our democracy,' and wouldn't commit to a law change.
The spam text messages have caused a furore and led South Australian candidate Mark Aldridge to distance himself from Trumpet of Patriots and resign.
Party chairman Clive Palmer said the party had sent about 17 million text messages and received just 8000 complaints.
Mr Palmer said the number of complaints were 'not too bad' considering how many text messages were sent out.
'Those 8000 people I have concluded are unlikely to vote for us' he told The Daily Telegraph.
So how did Mr Palmer get your number?
'I haven't got anybody's number. There are a number of services that are available to send marketing text messages to the Australian population,' he said.
'They would've had many texts from the other parties … it's the same as giving out how-to-vote cards and things like that.'
Palmer also hit back at Mr Albanese, saying it was the major parties that had exempted politicians from spam laws.
'It was the Liberals and Labor that both voted in favour of legislation that allows political parties to SMS,' he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Political parties likely get Australians' numbers from information brokers, the electoral role, or simply entering them at random.
Saturday's election is the last one without spending caps, and Mr Palmer is going all out, with leader Suellen Wrightson front and centre of the party's media campaign.
Though she has been billed as the country's next prime minister, Ms Wrightson has almost zero chance of winning the Labor-held seat of Hunter, NSW, in Saturday's election.
The point of Palmer's almost 100 political candidates is not necessarily to win, but to disrupt voting results for the major parties and publicise his agenda. The hastily-assembled candidates include a convicted conman and a boatbuilder who is facing weapons and stalking charges.
Policies include cutting immigration by 80 per cent, free university education and a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) like the one in Trump's administration.
Ms Wrightson was chosen as party leader after being involved with Palmer's political activities for about 12 years.
The Trumpet of Patriots website describes her as a 'former elected member of Cessnock City Council, seasoned political campaigner at state and federal level, and respected chronic disease management coordinator'.
She was elected to Cessnock City Council as a Liberal in 2012, but switched her allegiance to the Palmer United Party the following year.
In 2013 she ran in the third spot on the party's NSW Senate ticket in the federal election.
In 2016, she resigned from council in order to again run as a PUP Senate candidate for NSW, this time at the top of the party's ticket.
Ms Wrightson was back in 2019 campaigning for Palmer's party - renamed as the United Australia Party (UAP).
This time, she contested the seat of Warringah against the likes of Tony Abbott and Zali Steggall in the 2019 election.
Her most recent role with the UAP was as chief of staff for Senator Ralph Babet, currently the party's only federal elected representative.
'Suellen Wrightson was employed as my chief of staff, but resigned to run as a candidate in the Federal Election,' Senator Babet told Daily Mail Australia.
'Suellen is courageous and principled. She is focused on restoring freedom, faith and national pride. She will build a better future for all Australians.'
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Wrightson for comment.
Cutting government waste
This is central to the party's identity and is a clear echo of the Elon Musk-run department of government efficiency or DOGE in the US.
In fact, Mr Palmer name-checked the X and Tesla owner.
'Our biggest policy is to cut government waste, much as Elon Musk is doing in the United States,' he said.
However, actual details about how the Trumpet of Patriots would go about slimming down government bureaucracy in Canberra were thin on the ground.
Mr Palmer suggested his party planned to trim the red tape in the 'same way as Musk'.
'We plan to have a team of people...who can go through the procedures in Australia that sees more and more of the public sector having more and more of our capital,' he added.
'You've got to realise the public sector doesn't create wealth and it's the private sector that does. So the more money we've got in the private sector creating jobs, wealth and growth the bigger taxation and the better taxation base we've got.'
Recognising only two genders
In a carbon copy of the US President, Mr Palmer said his new party would only recognise two genders - male and female.
'We don't want men in women's sports and we don't want males dressed as females confusing our children in our schools,' Mr Palmer said.
'All children should be entitled to a safe and normal environment in our schools and public toilets.
'All children must be entitled to decide who they are and what their sexual orientation is when they're adults, and not have it foisted on them before they have even commenced puberty.'
Trump signed an executive order recognising only male and female sexes just days after being sworn in as President.
Recalling Kevin Rudd
Mr Palmer also claimed he would recall former PM Kevin Rudd as the Australian ambassador to the US, following damaging revelations of the former prime minister's bad-mouthing of Trump.
'It's time to bring Kevin Rudd back from Washington,' Mr Palmer said.
'There's not too many ambassadors in Washington that have insulted the president of the United States.
'Kevin Rudd ranks alone in that and Australia needs an elected representative in Washington that can support our nation in a time of toil, in a time where our living standards are declining and when our people are hungry.'
Mr Rudd has in the past labelled the President a 'village idiot', a 'traitor to the West' and 'the most destructive president in history'.
Trump has previously signalled his disapproval of Mr Rudd, branding him 'nasty'.
'I don't know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty,' Trump told GB News last year.
'I hear he's not the brightest bulb, but I don't know much about him. If he's at all hostile, he will not be there long.'
Feeding the hungry
Mr Palmer has long campaigned to raise awareness about the hunger crisis in Australia.
But his solution to the food crisis is also apparently rooted in cutting government waste.
'There's over 3.7 million Australian households in this country that don't have enough food, that can't afford it because of the cost of living that the Labor Party has brought upon them because of the excess spending and waste in our public service, we find Australian children going to be at night hungry,' Mr Palmer said.
The billionaire claimed he had donated $5million to Foodbank to help feed struggling families.
'I was personally concerned about it, that's why I donated $5million because I want to encourage other Australians, other billionaires who do nothing all day but sit on their a**e put money in,' he said.
'But it hasn't had that effect. People tend to like to keep their money so I think the government should step in there.'
Capping immigration
Mr Palmer, who is Australia's sixth richest person, with an estimated wealth of nearly $23billion, also hinted that the Trumpet of Patriots would seek to cap immigration.
'Too much immigration destroys our infrastructure, roads, schools and hospitals, creates congestion and the destruction of communities,' he said.
'Australia should be for all Australians living here. Trumpet of Patriots will put Australians first and make Australia great again.'
Building high-speed rail networks into major cities to enable cheaper housing
In perhaps his most left-field policy announcement, Mr Palmer pointed to policies brought in by the Japanese government to tackle their housing crisis.
'When you look at some of the solutions that were adopted by the Japanese government when the same thing happened in Tokyo and Yokohama was to put a fast train just 120km outside of Tokyo and to develop cheaper land for their population where they could all commute to the city within 20 minutes,' he said.
Mr Palmer said this would allow young people to put a foot on the housing ladder.
This was supported by Ms Wrightson, who added: 'We can solve the housing crisis by (building) fast trains from our capital cities to regional Australia to open up affordable land for housing with a 20-minute commute to the CBD.
Investing in Australian manufacturing
Asked whether he would seek to emulate Trump's punitive tariffs would impact Australia's steel production, Mr Palmer said 'I don't think so'.
'I think we need more steel production in Australia, we need more manufacturing in Australia,' he added.
'We export so much iron to China and japan they use that for their manufacturing base and they become the world's largest manufacturer.
'We want jobs in Australia. We've got substantial iron ore deposits, substantial coal deposits, bauxite, copper, molybdenum - those minerals should be developed here.'
He also called for Australia's steel mills to be brought into the 21st century with new technology.
'It makes sense to invest in our country,' he said.
Free speech
When questioned whether spending $123million to gain only one seat was a wise use of money, Mr Palmer claimed it was.
'It's a good use of my money because at the last election we spent $100million saying that the Covid vaccine was not safe and effective and it's proven not to be safe and effective,' he said.
'One in five million Australians didn't have the vaccine. That's $20 each based on your calculations and that was a good investment.'
He added: 'I'm more than happy to spend my funds on something protective, defending the rights of free speech and whatever is required to be spent it will be spent.'
Asked if he would be running at the election, Mr Palmer claimed he was 'too old' and would only serve as a 'functionary'.
At one stage, Mr Palmer misspoke and incorrectly referred to the party as the 'trumpet of parrots'.