Clive Palmer's United Australia Party has cancelled advertising in the Newcastle Herald amid talk of a falling-out with some of its local candidates.
The mining magnate has been a regular advertiser in the Herald and paid for millions of dollars in print ads across the nation as he attempts to shake up the political landscape.
But the party has withdrawn a substantial Herald advertising package booked for the next week of the election campaign. He has not cancelled ads in other Australian Community Media publications.
The Herald has been told UAP's head office has come under fire from some of its candidates over preference allocations which place the Nationals above One Nation, other minor parties, Labor and the Greens.
Mr Palmer told the National Press Club last month that UAP would put the three major parties at the bottom of its how-to-vote cards.
Candidates from populist parties such as UAP, One Nation and Informed Medical Options Party have since discussed allocating their top preferences to each other.
But the Herald has been told some UAP how-to-vote cards have a Coalition candidate at number three and One Nation at four.
Asked whether he supported the party hierarchy's allocation of preferences for the battleground seat of Hunter, UAP candidate Geoff Passfield said: "I'll have to have a look and see what the preferences are. I'm still working with some people talking about preferences.
"There's always going to be somebody that is not going to be happy with your how-to-vote card.
"It's a tough thing to navigate in all these places. You always upset somebody.
"We're still working through this. We're united."
He said UAP candidates were "working well" with the party's head office.
"They're probably hard to contact at the moment for some things, but otherwise we're going fine," he said.
Mr Passfield said he was not aware of the withdrawn advertising.
It is not clear whether the party's sudden cancellation of print advertising in Newcastle so close to the May 21 election is connected to any unrest among its Hunter candidates.
Mr Palmer is spending an estimated $60 million to $70 million in pre-election advertising across Australia.
UAP is expected to attract about six or seven per cent of the primary vote in the seat of Hunter. The party is polling at about 4 per cent in national surveys.
Its how-to-vote directions could help the Nationals' James Thomson withstand any outside chance of a challenge from One Nation's Dale McNamara during the preference count before a likely two-party-preferred showdown against Labor's Dan Repacholi.
One Nation, independent Stuart Bonds and UAP are all poised to direct their supporters to preference the Nationals ahead of Labor.
In Thursday's Herald, UAP had its trademark bright yellow ads on page one and three full pages inside, but the advertising will disappear from Friday.
The Herald contacted UAP headquarters for comment but did not receive a response.
