Clive Palmer: Queensland Nickel workers’ jobs in doubt

THE future of almost 550 workers at Queensland Nickel remains in doubt, with Clive Palmer refusing to commit to rehiring them.

THE future of almost 550 workers at Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel remains in doubt, with the embattled businessman refusing to commit to rehiring them.

In his first comments since the workers at his struggling refinery were sacked on Friday, Mr Palmer refused to accept blame for the job losses and accused the Queensland Government of driving away investment.

Mr Palmer claimed he has a $23 million line-of-credit that can save the Yabulu refinery but refused to explain where the money will come from.

He also claimed the refinery needed 18 separate approvals to be able to operate but did not explain what these were and later told the State Government he did not know what he needed.

The businessman MP is locked in a war of words with the State Government, which says they are doing everything possible to get the refinery working again.

As a cloud continued to hang over his business prospects, Mr Palmer left open the option of running for the Senate at the next federal election just three weeks after insisting he was committed to his Sunshine Coast electorate.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk accused Mr Palmer of lying and said he didn’t even know what approvals his Townsville refinery needs to stay afloat.

“What’s needed from Clive Palmer is a bit of honesty,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection transferred an Environmental Authority on Friday permitting Queensland Nickel Sales to operate the ­refinery.

Meanwhile, the Queensland Government will consider laws to prevent “high-flying businessmen” and mining companies from leaving taxpayers to pick up multi-million environmental clean up bills.

Environment Minister Steven Miles said the Government would not tolerate intensive industries forcing taxpayers to fork out to prevent pollution or clean up after problems arise.

The Minister’s comments follow changes to regulations last week which added metal smelters and refineries, mineral processing plants and clinical waste treatment facilities to the list of facilities which may be required to give financial assurances around environmental clean ups.

Dr Miles stressed he was not singling out any company or individual.

“Queenslanders are well and truly sick of seeing high-flying businessmen who think they can avoid doing the right thing by ordinary working people, the community and the environment,” Dr Miles said.

“In my environment portfolio, there have been too many occasions where companies have closed their doors, and what’s been revealed is that there is no money left in the till to deal with the costly clean-up and rehabilitation of the sites.”

Dr Miles said there had been too many instances in recent history which showed some businesses did not have clear plans on how to meet their environmental responsibilities.

“There are others that seem to think they can avoid doing the right thing if they hire a room full of high-priced lawyers,” he said.

“Business people aren’t the only ones who can hire lawyers.

“I intend doing everything possible to bring an end to this behaviour.”

Asked if the Government would stiffen laws to crack down on the practice, Dr Miles said: “I’m willing to consider it”.

He said in the past some smelters and processing plants had not been required to pay financial assurances to cover the cost of clean up after they shut down.

“For companies where Queensland law already requires an upfront bond to be paid, we’ve had an historic problem where the upfront bond hasn’t been big enough for the bill which is waiting for us,” he said.

“From the responsible members of the resources industry, and that includes very big company and small entrepreneurs who are at the forefront of mining technology, those negotiations have gone well, but there are some cases where we are having to fight to get the correct upfront payment being made.

“The second problem we have is where companies are not required to pay upfront, but are expected and trusted to do the right thing and make money available if they shut, aren’t doing that.”

The Department of Environment has previously said Queensland Nickel was not required to pay financial assurances.