Belly, who are you now comparing The Greens to now, Palmer and Katter.
The only thing we Greens have in common with those 2 is we are all on the same planet. No, sorry, we Greens are firmly planted on Mother Earth the other 2 are orbiting somewhere right of Pluto.
Truthfully I don't dislike Bob Katter completely, I think Arjay is right about him, he is at least genuine. Palmer on the other hand, well, isn't he having a replica of the 'Titanic' built? His push for PM will meet the same fate as 'Titanic I' it will sink, never to be seen again.
Lexi,is that true? Only 20% of voters in The Deep Deep North vote for Bob. What are the other 80% doing on election day? Out feeding the 'Cane Toads'.

I'd prefer a PM who has proven that he/she can mange successfully despite bureaucracy throwing all at them. It's called competence, you don't get that from half-baked lawyers & hangers-on academics.

Nice one Lexi,

Nothing like a bit of diversity in politics but I’m not sure how seriously the electorates will take to Clive. He is increasingly presenting as a spoilt brat and like Bob Katter, a bit erratic.

There will inevitably be some local or specific policy appeal particularly relating to Senate seats which will help the LNP but I’m unconvinced there will be much lower house value.

One of the problems they both face is that the electorate seems to be increasingly wary of independents and other minorities. There are currently about 22 percent Green/Other votes showing in polling. The issue remains as to how solid these are, whether or not they are just “parked” votes and more importantly, how the preferences might flow?

Current polling is predicated on preference flows from the last election and IMHO, I don’t think these will flow the same at the next election. In which case the addition of “other” candidates will simply split or redirect preferences within the minor parties rather than negatively impact the TPP. In which case the prospects for the ALP are even worse.

I’ll stick with the “bookies” on this one.

Thanks to everyone who's contributed thus far.

What impact might Palmer and Katter make?

Clive Palmer is a talented communicator and he
certainly has an instinctive knack for garnering
publicity. Watching him in an interview with Tony Jones
on Lateline certainly did not disappoint.
As commentators point out - that kind of profile
certainly helps, especially in Queensland,a state where
voters take a shine to outsize personalities and in the
Sunshine seat of Fairfax, where Palmer says he will
run, its predicted that he has more than a rough
chance.

Bob Katter's raw emotion and big hat country style
plays well. A recent "Megapoll" commissioned by Queensland
Union has Katter in the 20% range in much of North Queensland.
And as one commentator pointed out, in a Senate scenario
in which Tony Abbott sweeps to victory in September, that
just might leave Katter with the balance of power in the
upper house.

These two men just may offer the voters an alternative
to the two-party choices currently available. As another
commentator stated, "If you oppose coal seam gas fracking,
or want to see a politician do something to bring down
the price of the Aussie dollar - these guys may be for you.

Err Lexi,

Why would we want to bring down the value of our Dollar? Wouldn’t that make our export resources more attractive and increase our cost of living from the cheap imports upon which we depend?

Also are coal seam gas and fracking the same?

Dear spindoc,

Here's a link that explains coal seam gas fracking:

http://theconversation.com/explainer-coal-seam-gas-shale-gas-and-fracking-in-australia-2585

And as for bringing down the Aussie dollar - many businesses
are loosing money and people are losing jobs due to the high
Australian dollar. The following link explains:

http://www.news.com.au/business/australian-dollar/independent-sa-senator-nick-xenophon-wants-senate-inquiry-impact-of-high-australian-dollar/story-fn6t6wa-1226617661930