He was always an irritating, bombastic and pompous Australian version of Trump, addicted like other egomaniacs Pauline Hanson, Nick Xenophon and Bob Katter to naming parties after themselves, as if they were somehow God’s gift to a supposedly grateful electorate.

Firstly I thought I was seeing things when I saw the billboard – or perhaps hoped I was seeing things, thinking that Mr Palmer had some cheek to show his face at all, given the problems his management of his business affairs have caused the people of Queensland in general and Townsville in particular with a Queensland court freezing $205m of his assets.

But no, it seems he has no shame and on the weekend he announced he would be moving back into politics and changing the name of his deregistered party from the Palmer United Party to the United Australia Party, and will contest the next federal election and stand candidates in all upper and lower house seats at the next poll.

The UAP was the name of the old establishment party before Menzies founded the Liberal Party and presumably he is trying to tap into the 1930s zeitgeist (no surprise then he is a fan of authoritarian Trump).

Mr Palmer’s self belief is apparent but he does appear to have lost grip of reality.

He had his one big chance in politics in 2013 and blew that big time despite being elected the federal member for Fairfax as his three senators quickly departed the party and his hopes of being a powerbroker quickly fell apart amid recriminations – very much in the manner of Hanson’s dysfunctional party.

Mr Palmer will be more likely to be an object of ridicule this time round and will be lucky to get his deposit back.

If he really wants to give something back to the society he has done well out of, he should do the decent thing and sort out the entitlements of his disgruntled old employees at Queensland Nickel.

Otherwise he is going to soak up valuable time which could be spent discussing genuine electoral issues – Derek Barry