Clive Palmer clarified his remarks in a recent tweet:
“Today I inadvertently used the term suicide in regard to @TonyAbbottMHR when I meant political suicide. I apologise for any offence caused,” he wrote.
Today I inadvertently used the term suicide in regard to @TonyAbbottMHR when I meant political suicide. I apologise for any offence caused.
— Clive Palmer (@CliveFPalmer) 4 Март 2015
“It's a good thing that Mr. Palmer has apologized and I think all members of Parliament need to take this opportunity just to pause for a moment and think of the language that they use in political discourse,” Mitch Fifield, the Assistant Minister for Social Services, was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Australian billionaire made his comment during a press conference at Parliament House on the Australian economy in response to the government’s suggested plans to cut university funding:
“There’s a million students going to tertiary education in this country. There’s a million more about to go and a million more that’s just left. They’ve all got parents, so commit suicide Tony Abbott, you know,” Mr. Palmer said.
After a journalist asked him if it was responsible to express his opposition in the way like this as a politician, Clive Palmer made an attempt to clarify what he meant:
“I was raising it because it was suicide, political suicide, to go against the will of what’s good for the Australian people.”
This isn't the first time Clive Palmer has faced condemnation for his loose tongue. Last year he was forced to apologize after calling the Chinese government “mongrels” that “shoot their own people.”
