Things did not go to plan at a press conference to get Suellen Wrightson’s federal election campaign off the blocks on Thursday, as it descended into a slanging match between her boss Clive Palmer and an uninvited Liberal MP.
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But the Cessnock Councillor took it all in her stride, even lobbing a grenade of her own during the fiery exchange.
Ms Wrightson was by Mr Palmer’s side on Thursday as she was unveiled as the Palmer United Party’s Senate candidate for NSW.
However the media event was gatecrashed by Liberal MP Ewen Jones, who began heckling Mr Palmer over the collapse of his company Queensland Nickel.
Ms Wrightson jumped to Mr Palmer’s defence, shouting “Goodbye Ewen, would you like a tissue?”
She is believed to have been mocking tears shed by Mr Jones last month as he talked about the impact on Queensland Nickel’s sacked workers.
Ms Wrightson, a former member of the Liberal party, is taking a second tilt at federal politics after a failed campaign in 2013.