Mining magnate Clive Palmer has accused former Trump strategist Steve Bannon of lying when he claimed he influenced the Australian billionaire’s 2019 federal election campaign.

The claim emerged in text messages purportedly between Bannon and US President Donald Trump, which were among documents in the latest Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice.

“I had Clive Palmer do the $60 million anti china and climate change ads,” Bannon wrote in a text.

The messages were sent two days after Scott Morrison won the federal election, which had been predicted as “unlosable” by Labor under then leader Bill Shorten.

In Canberra on Wednesday, Palmer – who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on his failed election tilts – said Bannon had no part in his 2019 election ads.

While he previously told the ABC he had never even spoken to Bannon, he now admits he received a late-night call from Trump’s former adviser. At the time, Palmer said, his ad campaign was already running.

“I picked up the phone and this fellow said, ‘It’s Steve Bannon here’. I said, ‘Hello, Steve, are you a member of our party?’ ‘No, I’m calling from the United States’.

“I said, ‘Well, we can’t talk to people in the States. We can’t take donations from overseas’.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to give a donation’. He said, ‘I’m just ringing. I’m just ringing to say you’re running a great campaign against the Chinese – keep it up’.”

Palmer said he had never spoken to or met convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

“I’m much more concerned with Australia and what’s happening here, and we’re all very lucky we don’t have a Jeffrey Epstein,” he said.

Asked why Bannon would have said he was behind the anti-China and climate change ads, Palmer said “politicians and people associated with politics lie regularly”.

Meanwhile, Palmer said he would challenge planned electoral reforms capping the amount parties and candidates can spend at elections and the amount individuals can donate to political parties, saying they impinge on political freedoms.

“We all have to have an appreciation and tolerance about everybody’s right to express their opinion,” he said.

Special Minister of State Don Farrell said Labor would defend the laws in the High Court, adding it would fight to curb the influence of big money in politics.

“We look forward to defending any challenge to these reforms,” he said.

“Billionaires shouldn’t be able to use our democracy as their playground.”

Palmer’s Mineralogy was the biggest third-party spender at the 2025 federal election, pumping almost $200 million out the door in the financial year, including more than $50 million for the campaign alone.

The Coalition spent almost $215 million in that financial year, which included the federal election in May, while Labor spent $160 million.

The Australian Electoral Commission data doesn’t break out specific election spending for political parties as it does for third parties.

Labor won a resounding majority of 94 seats in the lower house while the coalition was diminished to 43.

But Palmer’s right-wing populist Trumpet of Patriots party failed to win a single seat.

Palmer defended his major spending when asked about a comparison to One Nation, which won three Senate spots in 2025 despite spending $3 million.

“Money doesn’t do it, it’s ideas,” he said.

“I spent $53 million, didn’t get a representative. Well, if I spent $53 million, I should have got lot, shouldn’t I?”

Independents have also criticised the donation caps and public funding earmarked for incumbents, saying it makes the field uneven for new challengers and those not backed by large political parties.

The donation law changes will take effect from mid-2026.

They cap the amount an individual can donate to a party’s branch at $50,000 in a calendar year and limit election spending to $90 million for political parties nationwide. There are also individual spending caps for candidates in each electorate and Senate races.

–with AAP