Clive Palmer’s $110m senator plots post-election real estate return

April 8, 2026 — 5:00am

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Clive Palmer’s $110 million Victorian senator Ralph Babet is already laying the groundwork for life after politics. The guy perhaps best known for his love of US President Donald Trump has simply had enough.

In his own telling, Babet, a former real estate agent turned right-wing populist, got into politics with hopes to convince members of the Liberal Party to focus on the values espoused by Menzies, to get the government to “leave people alone” and to protect “free speech”.

“I have failed,” Babet told CBD when we reached him on Tuesday. “I have failed in that task. I don’t want to stick around in politics beyond my one term. I’m walking away, I’m going back to the private sector. I’ll leave them to ruin the country.”

Babet, who describes his parliamentary colleagues as “Marxists”, has now turned his attention to his political off-ramp, which he reckons will come at the next federal election in 2028. If documents lodged with the register of senators’ interests and the corporate regulator are anything to go by, Babet is plotting a return to real estate.

In February, Babet set up a new company called Buildvest, in which he’s the sole shareholder. The company triggered one of........

© The Sydney Morning Herald