Clive Palmer calls for Rupert Murdoch to be jailed

Mining magnate Clive Palmer has issued an extraordinary tirade against Rupert Murdoch, calling for the media mogul to be thrown in jail “as soon as possible”.

Palmer is holidaying in Venice, Italy with his family, but was videoed speaking with a reporter as he walked briskly along the canal.

Asked whether he would run at the next election, Palmer said Murdoch has too much power over the Australian people and that he is ready to fight against the media empire.

He posted a video of the encounter to his Facebook page.

“There’ll be a big issue at the next election and I’ll be there to champion that cause so that Australians can have freedom of thought again – Murdoch needs to be held accountable,” Palmer can be heard saying.

“Murdoch needs to go to jail, run that!

“I think Murdoch needs to go to jail as soon as possible so that all Australians can be free, and the Murdoch empire should be broken up.

“We need to have media investment laws much like there was in Germany after World War II when many corporations were broken up because they had monopoly control.”

He also warned against ‘fake news’ and accused Murdoch’s News Corp of being responsible for publishing factually incorrect articles.

“We need to have this at the forefront of Australia’s public thought, and that’s the real issue about this… the fake news that President Trump has identified that operates in the western world.”

“We’ve seen thousands of journalists sacked by the Murdoch empire where he employs young journalists between 20 and 30 and discards them when they get older, we’ve seen his sub-editors and his editors manipulate the press and affect the whole freedom of thought in Australia.”

Palmer also referred to Murdoch’s ex-wife Wendi Deng as a “Chinese spy”.

Earlier today, Palmer called for new laws to prohibit foreigners controlling Australian news organisations.

Although born and raised in Australia, Murdoch gave up his citizenship in 1985 when he became a US citizen in order to acquire American television stations.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think we need stricter media laws?