![Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer: "I don't think we should attack [Peta Credlin] personally." Photo: Alex Ellinghausen](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/a8499b05-de86-4370-a8a5-2828a2606b6b.jpg/r0_0_727_410_w576_h298_fmax.webp "Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer: \"I don't think we should attack [Peta Credlin] personally.\" Photo: Alex Ellinghausen")
Clive Palmer says he regrets once attacking Peta Credlin and has told media baron Rupert Murdoch to lay off from "personally" attacking Prime Minister Tony Abbott's chief of staff.
And Mr Palmer, whose two senators hold crucial balance of power seats, says any change in the Liberal leadership would be pointless if the federal government doesn't ditch its unpopular policies.
The Palmer United leader, a one time critic of Mr Abbott's top aide, leapt to Ms Credlin's defence on Friday, saying her work reflected the Prime Minister and cabinet's direction and elected MPs should be held accountable, not unelected staffers.
"I don't think we should attack her personally," he said.
Mr Palmer said he was attacked by Mr Murdoch's News Corp papers when he made a "faux pas" last year by singling out Ms Credlin when criticising Mr Abbott's proposed paid parental leave. At the time he insisted that Ms Credlin's role as a staffer did not make her immune from scrutiny.
..I've not intended to personally attack Peta Credlin in my PPL criticisms. However, no key position in government should escape scrutiny — Clive Palmer (@Clive Palmer)
June 3, 2014
But he criticised News Corp on Friday saying there had been no such criticism of Mr Murdoch's intervention calling for Ms Credlin to be sacked or resign on the global social media site Twitter.
"They're very inconsistent," Mr Palmer observed.
Mr Palmer's comments come after Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Thursday also defended Ms Credlin, saying "Tony Abbott's mistakes are Tony Abbott's mistakes".
Mr Murdoch's intervention came after months of disquiet within the Coalition about Ms Credlin's management styleand the savage backlash to Mr Abbott's decision to knight Prince Philip – a decision the Prime Minister says he made without consulting his chief of staff.
The knighthood has sparked a furious round of phone calls among Coalition MPs in which backbenchers and ministers are questioning the Prime Minister's judgment and wondering if he has the capacity to lead.
Mr Abbott had promiseda fresh start to the political year, vowing to focus on "jobs and families" in the lead up to the budget in May.
The government still has more than $30 billion in unpassed measures from the last year's budget, with the Senate opposing the measures.
Palmer United senators Dio Wang and Glenn Lazarus have helped block key budget measures, including the original $7 GP fee, plans to deregulate university fees and an increase to the fuel excise. The government later introduced the fuel excise increase by circumventing the Senate.
Mr Palmer said unless the Liberals changed their unpopular policies they would not benefit from switching leaders, possibly to the more popular Julie Bishop or Malcolm Turnbull.
"Unless the policies change the leader will face the same problems," he said.
