One of the landscaping staff at Parliament House was accidentally responsible for switching on a sprinkler system that sprayed Clive Palmer’s campaign launch on Monday morning, according to the gardener’s employer.
Mr Palmer and former One Nation senator Brian Burston were fielding questions on their new political allegiance from press gallery journalists when the sprinklers suddenly turned on, scattering the crowd.
“The irrigation system was turned on this morning in the Senate courtyard due to human error,” a spokesperson for the Department of Parliamentary Services told SBS News.
“One of the Landscape Services personnel was checking the irrigation system and mistakenly manually operated the wrong valve.”
Mr Palmer was at parliament to formally launch his campaign for the next federal election.
The Queensland minerals magnate, who once led the Palmer United Party to a peak of four seats in 2014, plans to again field candidates in every seat under the banner of his rebranded United Australia Party.
He has already enlisted sitting senator Brian Burston, who quit One Nation last week following a public spat with leader Pauline Hanson.
Labor MP Cathy O'Toole gatecrashed Mr Palmer's press conference, asking him to explain how he could afford a major political comeback when hundreds of former employees of his Queensland Nickel refinery were still owed wages.
Queensland Nickel collapsed in 2016 owing hundreds of millions in debts. Hundreds lost their jobs.
Mr Palmer said the liquidators of his company, which collapsed in 2016, were to blame.
“It is not my responsibility to pay the people's bills,” he said.
The next federal election is yet to be called but will be held sometime in the next 12 months.
