How to spend $123m

Did you know there’s a cost of living crisis? Even with interest rates finally falling, everyone has become used to tightening their belts and being a little more careful with how they spend their hard-earned dollars (or 78c on the dollar for those on the wrong side of this week's WGEA wage gap news).

Well, almost everyone. Because after spending $123m to win one seat in parliament in 2022, Clive Palmer is at it again, with his new party, Trumpet of Patriots. 

Turn on a commercial TV channel, and you’ll almost certainly see Clive or party leader Suellen Wrightson very obviously reading from cue cards in a brightly coloured yet somehow poorly produced political ad.

Palmer’s 2022 record won’t quite be broken, with Labor’s newly passed political donation laws restricting Clive to a measly $90 million maximum spend on this year’s campaign.

This got us thinking, on a topic obviously completely unrelated to anything the infamously litigious Palmer has ever done, what’s our own biggest waste of money? 

One Allegorist, for example, bought a keyboard, despite having no musical talent. Somehow, two own tattoo guns, despite having very few artistic sensibilities. Another bought a hula hoop that was never used. A third signed everyone up to a personality test that came with an unsuspecting and pricey monthly subscription.

At least we can take comfort in the one thing that is always great value (and would never need or recommend a ~$90M paid media spend) - a good comms agency.