Palmer doubles down with fresh claim for $30 billion he says WA now owes
Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer has revealed details of a new legal action aimed at claiming the $30 billion he says the government admitted it owes him.
The claim for unconscionable conduct was lodged in the Federal Court, with Mr Palmer claiming damages caused by the McGowan government's emergency legislation which removed the rights his companies had to compensation under the Mineralogy iron ore state agreement.
Clive Palmer has lodged another claim.Credit:
"The amount of damages is likely to exceed the damages claimed in the arbitration the state had previously agreed to but legislated to terminate," Mr Palmer said.
WA Premier Mark McGowan and Attorney-General John Quigley have both said there was a chance Mr Palmer could win the $30 billion in an arbitration dispute that has been running since 2012.
They rushed through emergency legislation with support of the opposition in an attempt to rub out the claims.
"Mark McGowan demonstrated the arbitration clause in Western Australian state agreements is worthless if the state is going to lose the arbitration," Mr Palmer said.
"What for? It will be for nothing when Mineralogy's action in the Federal Court will result in a greater amount of damages and the High Court of Australia will, in my view, find the Act unconstitutional."
Yesterday, Mr Palmer launched defamation action against the Premier.
Mr Quigley defended the legality of the government's controversial anti-Palmer legislation in an Australian Financial Review opinion editorial published on Thursday evening.
He was responding to severe criticism from lawyers, business people and political commentators around the country. The laws had been used by Mr Palmer to argue WA's conduct in the legal dispute was a sovereign risk to investment in the state.
The WA Law Society labelled the anti-Palmer legislation "unprecedented and extreme".
"Dealing with Mr Palmer sometimes feels like being in a rodeo, but this legislation is not some 'Wild West' idea," Mr Quigley wrote.
The Attorney-General said the law did not try to "take away the lucrative revenue streams which Mr Palmer reaps from his Sino Iron project in the Pilbara under the terms of his state agreement".
"The Amendment Act [Palmer Law] essentially says that any claim for damages for this speculative lost opportunity cannot now be pursued," he said.
"In the history of state agreements with other companies, no other proponent has ever sought to claim damages for any lost opportunity because a minister rejects a proposal.
"Whether you view the Amendment Act as taking away a contractual right without providing proper compensation, or you view it as adjusting the contractual liabilities of the state in a pending arbitration, those things can happen because of the well-settled underlying principles about state legislative power."
Mr McGowan was expected to address the media about the latest legal action on Friday afternoon.