On the face of the departure of Senator Glenn Lazarus from the Palmer United Party shows PUP is a failure.

But what if PUP has already achieved its purpose? The departure of Lazarus then signifies that PUP actually achieved all Palmer required of it: the destruction of Campbell Newman’s Queensland LNP government, after only one term.

And in that regard, Palmer United has been a spectacular success. What’s more, it helped repeal the carbon and mining taxes. Palmer couldn’t have hoped for more.