‘Treacherous and traitorous’: McGowan uses parliament to blast Palmer
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan and Attorney General John Quigley have used parliamentary privilege to launch a savage attack on billionaire Clive Palmer over his $300 billion damages claim stemming from a stalled Pilbara iron ore project.
Quigley also aimed his barrage at the Liberal National opposition, declaring they were in lockstep with Palmer and raising questions about former Morrison Government Attorney General-turned-barrister Christian Porter’s involvement in the action.
Mark McGowan has used parliamentary privilege to blast Clive Palmer.
McGowan and Quigley were both dragged through an embarrassing defamation trial last year brought on by the mining magnate over public potshots the men took at each other in 2020 over the state’s COVID-19 border and the state’s efforts to stop an earlier $30 billion damages claim over the same project.
McGowan has tempered his language since that trial, but in response to a question time Dorothy Dixer on Thursday, he unleashed on Palmer.
McGowan described the billionaire as the greediest man in Australian history, and a “quisling”–a synonym for traitor based on Norwegian fascist Vidkun Quisling who urged Adolph Hitler to occupy Norway.
“Today we have seen the most deplorable act of greed in Australian history,” he said.
“It is treacherous and traitorous conduct on a scale this country has never seen before.
“Imagine already having billions of dollars and making $1 to $2 million a day from a Chinese company in Western Australia without lifting a finger but being so rapacious that you turn around and sue your own country for $300 billion.
“That’s 300,000 million dollars. That’s about $11,500 for every Australian man, woman and child. Pure greed.
“Mr Palmer has now cemented himself in Australian history as the most appalling and selfish person our country has ever seen.”
Palmer’s company behind the latest investor-state dispute is Zeph Investments, which was registered in Singapore after the WA government introduced legislation in 2020 to halt Palmer’s original $30 billion damages claim.
McGowan mocked this move.
“This is a man who once proclaimed he loved Australia, but he now claims to be a Singaporean businessman. I kid you not, a Singaporean businessman in order to sue Australia,” he said.
“Now desperately and disgracefully he has registered his company overseas. He’s doing this with the sole aim of suing his own country.
“At what point do we say enough is enough? He’s exhausted all his legal avenues in Australia, but can’t accept the result. It is greed, it is treachery.”
After the government’s second Dorothy Dixer on the subject, Quigley berated the Liberal and National parties for their past support of Palmer.
Quigley brought up an opinion piece from the Spectator written in August 2020 by the now WA Liberal Party president Caroline de Russo accusing the government of populism after it introduced the extraordinary anti-Palmer legislation.
He then mentioned former WA Nationals leader Brendon Grylls’s closeness with Palmer in the late 2000s and accused both coalition parties of being in lockstep with the billionaire.
Porter has been listed in the notice of arbitration documents as being the lead of a group of nine lawyers representing Palmer in the dispute.
Quigley questioned what briefings on the WA anti-Palmer legislation Porter had when he was serving as Attorney General in 2020.
Palmer was contacted for a response to the barrage but has not yet responded.
In a statement earlier on Thursday Palmer said if he received a windfall from the lawsuit he would use the money to fund hospitals and put money into the health system in WA, as well as establish a new daily newspaper.
“If any windfall was to come to Mineralogy, the funds would be used for public good,” Palmer said.
“A better health system and new independent voice for WA citizens is desperately needed.”
Porter was unable to be contacted.
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