There is always going to be a least one public or political figure that will set themselves up, unintentionally in most cases, to be ridiculed by at least half the nation because of their continued history of controversy, dubious business and political dealings, as well as their inability to suck it up when accused of any of the aforementioned practices.
This could apply to any number of politicians or public figures in Australia right now but for the moment Clive Palmer, sometimes known as "Fatty McF**khead" and a number of other increasingly amusing tags, is my bone of contention as he waddles ingloriously from one questionable business deal to another in quick succession.
Friendlyjordies (Jordan Shanks) couldn't have said it better when he described Clive Palmer as "Fatty McF**khead" on You Tube, as well as adding a few Photoshopped cartoon insults for effect. Clive Palmer, for his part, was not impressed and threatened to sue Friendlyjordies for defamation. As far as Friendlyjordies was concerned, "for a defamation allegation to be successful, Clive Palmer would have to prove that Friendlyjordies has lowered his standing in the eyes of the public" - which would be fraught with difficulties considering an nematobe would be more popular than Palmer at this point in time. To date, Palmer is yet to pursue his solicitor's blustering defamation letter.
Palmer started out behind the right-wing conservative eight ball with parents who were anti-communist, conservative Catholics - and that's where he stayed. "At the University of Queensland in the early 1970s, Palmer took on campus socialists and feminists, most vigorously through the Right To Life Association and its anti-abortion "pregnancy counselling" front".
Palmer did not complete his degree. He later purportedly "completed a Diploma of Law through the Queensland Bar Board and worked as a clerk and interviewing officer for the Public Defender's Office".
In 1974, Palmer joined the Queensland division of the National party. He became involved with Joh Bejelke-Petersen and "served as the National Party's campaign director during the 1983 state election". Palmer also became the media director for the National Party Government in Queensland, where he reportedly "learned his politics from Joh". If one could guess, they would surmise that Clive Palmer learned more than politics from Joh, with his dubious business deals, brown paper bags and his "feeding the chooks" attitude to the press.
While Palmer was media director in the National Party in Queensland, he applied to the local council in Caloundra to build a 66-storey townhouse development on rural land on the Sunshine Coast in 1984. Planning permission was denied. Russ Hinze reportedly overturned the decision. Not long after that, Palmer made a sizeable donation to the National Party.
Palmer made his fortune in the real estate boom during the early to mid-80s when he was a real estate agent. He apparently "retired" from real estate at the age of 29 and went into mining. It didn't stop him from dabbling in real estate when he bought the Hyatt Regency Coolum for $80 million in 2011. We all know the story about that but to recap - he changed the name to the "Palmer Coolum Resort" and the former "tourism jewel", once a prestigious golfing resort on the Sunshine Coast, fell into heartbreaking disrepair. The once pristine gardens were buried under piles of leaves and neglected, shops were closed and unused units became rotten and full of mould. The resort is now closed and the man who was going to "make this country great again" was responsible for the loss of over 600 jobs that were extremely important to the economy of the area. When questioned on radio, Palmer said that there was "nothing wrong" with the resort. Claims that the resort was "closed for renovations" were at odds with reports of no refurbishment and photographic evidence of the poor condition of the structures and the gardens.
Having mentioned the momentous golfing resort real estate faux pas, it would be remiss of me not to touch on the ridiculous enterprise that is the Titanic II. Palmer announced this project in 2012, with the "intended launch date set in 2016, delayed to 2018, then 2022". It's all a bit murky, with Palmer reporting "financial difficulties" delaying the project and using obvious redirection whenever he is asked about it. He might have a bit of competition though. I hear China is building a replica of the Titanic and the "Romandisea Titanic" is under construction as I speak. It won't be going near the ocean, which is probably a blessing considering it's predecessor's demise, and will be "moored permanently in a reservoir in Sichuan as a centrepiece of a resort development there". I hope they have more success with their resort than Palmer did. I have no doubt the triple whammy of the Titanic being built by the Chinese for a resort will push Palmer into an anti-communist social media frenzy. Considering he is a couple of french fries short of a major coronary he might want to keep a lid on that temper of his.
Apart from Palmer's inconclusive excursion into real estate and his failed attempt to own a soccer team, he's been busy buying mining companies and setting up his own political party. As always with Palmer, speculation is high on the nefarious quality of any undertaking.
Delving into Palmer's mining industry interests is like chasing an eel through a scum pond. In the 1980s, Palmer "founded three companies which undertook mining exploration in Western Australia". One of these companies was called Minerology. "Minerology has been involved in a long-running dispute with CITIC, a Chinese company, over a royalty payment". After the court ruling, Minerology now reaps approximately $US100 million every 12 weeks in royalties from CITIC.
Another company that Palmer purchased in 2009 was Queensland Nickel which which owns and operates the Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery. Seven years later this company collapsed and liquidators were pursuing Palmer for $250 million which included $74 million of unpaid employee entitlements. The government (under The Commonwealth Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme) has in fact picked up most of the tab for the employees with a payout of $65.5 million. Palmer had promised to pay all monies owing after the 2019 election. In the lead up to the 2019 election Palmer told Channel 9 that he would be putting $7.16 million into trust for the employees. He contradicted that later in the interview by saying that the money had already been paid. At the time of writing, I am still unclear as to whether this amount has actually been paid to workers.
Palmer has excused himself from the responsibility of repayments on the whole, saying he was "just a shareholder of the holding company of Queensland Nickel at the time, with no personal liability", inferring his response to repay $7.16 million was magnanimous. As for the $65.5 million tab picked up by the federal government to pay the workers, Palmer has no intention of paying back the money, saying "that the debt was not his to bear". "A separate court matter is underway in which the government is seeking to recover $70 million from Palmer".
It was also around about this time that Palmer was boasting about having "four-thousand million dollars" and during the 2019 election it was common knowledge that Palmer spent around $83 million on advertising for Clive Palmer's United Australia Party.
We all know the outcome of the 2019 election. Palmer didn't win a seat. A pretty high price to pay for not winning a single seat in the election. But he can afford it. And it wasn't about winning the election. It was about thwarting Labor and bringing other benefits into play for himself. As much as he cries poor, Palmer is well versed in being able to move money around and has enough money to employ a team of solicitors to push some of his protagonists to the point where they can no longer afford to pursue matters against him. In the meantime he continues to shore up those benefits for himself. In October 2019, "a Palmer controlled company has applied for a mining lease and environmental authority to build a massive coal mine four times the size of Adani's in the Queensland Galilee Basin". Palmer also unveiled plans to build a coal-fired power station in central Queensland. In July 2019, Palmer indicated that he would use cash from a "court win against Chinese company, CITIC to progress plans in the Galilee".
Remember CITIC and those royalties? Those "pesky Chinese" are quite useful when it comes to profit and coal mines.
Palmer is now facing charges by ASIC over an "alleged breach of director's duties and fraud for over $12 million he siphoned from his parent company for his now-defunct Palmer United Party in 2013".
Palmer says he's not too worried about it all and that ASIC have a vendetta against him. As a person used to using power and money to get himself out of trouble and pressure others into leaving him alone, he may well get his wish. I, for one, hope that he doesn't. People like Palmer are used to being able to push to the full extent of the law and beyond to get what they want and to get away with things that ordinary citizens are unable to. An example should be made of him. It has been done before in this country.
I would enjoy seeing Palmer pushed down a peg or two and behind bars. No more burgers and fries for him.
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