Romeo aka Antoine Georges complains on video and (right) in his full lodge regalia.

BY TONY MOBILIFONITIS

Clive Palmer
Craig Kelly accused by Romeo Georges of “betrayal”.

IT was inevitable that the push by Craig Kelly and the United Australia Party to break the two-party monopoly at the next Australian Federal Election would soon come under attack by those who claim loudly to be “Aussie patriots”.

One such loud voice was Romeo George of Sydney, who apparently buddied up with Craig Kelly “to start a new political party”. Not only that, Romeo aka Antoine George, a deputy grand-master freemason, wanted Kelly to take him on as a paid campaigner.

And when Romeo later discovered that Kelly had teamed up with Clive Palmer, Romeo got offended and went on Instagram and complained non-stop about how he had been betrayed because Kelly and Palmer never stumped up with the money he needed ($250,000 has been suggested) in order to become their big-shot political partner. He had been pushing this for some six weeks in repeated calls to Kelly.

“We sat around my own dining table to discuss how to start a new political party,” Romeo whined on the Instagram video that has now been removed.

Kelly and Palmer obviously realised that this guy was not going to be an asset. So now we see Romeo banging his own political drum on Sydney community radio station 2RSR, and now touting Ricardo Bosi as “his man”. Bosi knows better than to get tangled up with high-level masons, regardless of how patriotic they claim to be. Romeo now has his own fundraiser going, and a month or so ago was sitting at around $24,000.

Romeo has now “worked out” that Clive Palmer is running UAP in order to “sell UAP votes to the Coalition” and “get more mining land”. He also thinks Clive maliciously launched a lawsuit against the people of Western Australia. Hello? Has this man done any serious research? And then there’s Palmer’s preference deal with Campbell Newman and the Liberal Democrats, that Romeo sees as another big sellout because in his opinion they should have teamed up with One Nation.

But that could be a messy, complicated process and One Nation leader Mark Latham – a veteran political operative like Palmer – would not want to get bogged down in it. Liberal Democrats, a small outfit being used as a platform by LNP defector Campbell Newman, was an easier alliance.

For those who don’t know, the Liberal Democrats have very little in common with present-day Liberals or the old leftie Democrats. The Liberal Democrats are libertarians, a notable example being ex-Senator David Leyonhelm who has been an outstanding defender of firearm owners. Libertarians are probably the most anti-nanny state party anywhere. Palmer United are unashamedly pro-freedom, a point repeatedly made by Palmer at the freedom rallies across Australia.

If Palmer was in this political battle to line his own pockets with mining profits, he wouldn’t want to be bothered running for a Senate seat. Neither would he be upsetting the big business and the political establishment in states like Western Australia.

Romeo Georges was not the only person making crazy conspiratorial accusations against Kelly and Palmer. Kelly was spotted at a rally in Melbourne sitting down with his hands in a “secret freemason V sign” and Palmer appeared at another rally in Brisbane wearing red shoes! That’s right, red shoes. You know, the Red Shoes Cult …. spare us folks!

Strangely, some people at one of the People’s Revolution rallies in Brisbane, started heckling Palmer about his shoes. The hecklers were rebuked by an embarrassed Tristan Trickie, TPM organiser, who pointed out the stupidity of it.

But if you’re looking for masons under mattresses take a look at deputy grand-master Romeo. Are we suggesting some dark conspiracy here? No, but you have to ask the question: who are Romeo’s friends in the high places at the Lodge? ScoMo? Dan Andrews? Is “grand master” Romeo playing some clever political chess games? Probably not. It seems more like a bad case of sour grapes.

The suggestion by conspiracy theorists was that Palmer and Kelly are “controlled opposition”. Really? If you’re looking for controlled opposition, look no further than the LNP in Queensland or Labor in Canberra and any mainstream party in opposition in the other states. Palmer is a maverick with lots of moolah, but he’s at least splashing it around and fighting for his country first and foremost.

Palmer is also surprisingly frank and open about his wealth and told the freedom rally in Brisbane that most people including himself don’t need a lot of money. That’s a true statement, even coming from the mouth of a billionaire. Palmer doesn’t deny he has it, but he uses it for purposes bigger than himself. Being wealthy doesn’t automatically make one a villain, it’s how that wealth is used that tells the story.

Will UAP be the perfect party for Australia? Absolutely not. They will make their bungles like any other party. They will probably work with One Nation if they can gain a good number of Senate and House of Representative seats. If One Nation, UAP and maybe one or two others can stymie the duopoly then there’s real hope for Australia.

Craig Kelly has laid down the strategy very clearly and very simply: Use the federal preference voting system to number the alternatives like UAP, One Nation etc 1,2,3, with the major parties and the Greens last. Also avoid voting “above the line” in the Senate because the preference system has been very cleverly rigged to work for the Greens.

Ricardo Bosi and his supporters, meanwhile, will be watching and monitoring the coming federal election very closely. Bosi is under no illusion about the political stakes involved but has a brilliant strategy for the Australian people – whether he gets elected or not.

But patriotic Aussies should calm down, stop the whingeing and moaning and shooting themselves in the foot because this or that party of candidate doesn’t measure up to their ideals. Vote and make your vote count.