Clive Palmer must do what is right for the people of Townsville

CLIVE Palmer must do what is right for the people of Townsville and he must do what is right for the people who elected him to represent them in the federal Parliament of Australia.

The Queensland Nickel refinery in Townsville owned by MP Clive Palmer made 240 staff redundant while another 550 remain to keep the plant running.

CLIVE Palmer rode into Townsville in 2009 with swagger and promise, crowing he had saved the ageing nickel refinery on the northern city’s outskirts from the scrapheap after a slump in commodity prices.

He picked Queensland Nickel up for a song. The former owner, resources giant BHP Billiton, was eager to get out of the nickel business before market conditions got worse. He was called Australia’s best boss by some for lavishing luxury cars and overseas holidays on staff in an extravagant show of Christmas largesse.

He hit the political scene in the same way in the 2013 election, luring disaffected candidates and voters to a party that confidently bore his name.

The subsequent mass resignation of party members has left only himself in the House of Representatives as the member for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax, an electorate he is rarely seen in, and the West Australian Senator Dio Wang. One by one the likes of rugby league legend Glenn Lazarus and former soldier Jacqui Lambie and Queenslanders Carl Judge and Alex Douglas left, alleging cronyism, bullying and personal attacks. Now, with almost a third of the workforce at Queensland Nickel looking for new jobs in a desperately tight northern market and the company plunged into voluntary administration, Mr Palmer is continuing to peddle spin.

He cannot say he has retired from the corporate world as he did when he entered Parliament only to remain the major shareholder of a large business.

As the leader of a political party, he should not accept donations from his struggling business in the months before it sacks hundreds of workers.

His attempt to justify millions of dollars donated by his company to his political party does not hold water and is a slap in the face to the hundreds of workers left without jobs.

He cannot stridently claim he would not ask Queensland taxpayers for funds for his commercial venture and weeks later try to compel the Government to hand over millions of dollars.

Mr Palmer also cannot seek taxpayer funds and not meet each and every request from the State Government to have a good look at his books. And he cannot blame the Government for the position his corporate venture finds itself in, with claims of mismanagement by the company.

Now the situation sits with the administrators, who must try to unravel the true financial position of the company, and the Palaszczuk Government, which must try to create public jobs and work with the private sector to find employment for the workers. We encourage Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to do whatever her Government can to create new employment in the best interests for the people of Queensland and to work with the Federal Government in fast-tracking projects that will create jobs.

She is correct to demand Mr Palmer front up to the workers who have been affected by his actions and face uncertain futures. Mr Palmer presents himself as a corporate success story but he has left a trail of bitterness and acrimony in his wake. He incited a legal battle with his Chinese business partners that revealed the true nature of the financial position of his nickel business. He has turned a once vibrant tourist resort at Coolum into a ghost town, squabbling with tenants and decimating the workforce in a small community, as well as losing the right to host a key golf tournament. He has promised to build a replica of the Titanic with no show of work. He controlled a football club that was run into the ground in three years.

Mr Palmer must do what is right for the people of Townsville and he must do what is right for the people who elected him to represent them in the federal Parliament of Australia.

While appointing administrators is an undesirable outcome for a large employer in a region suffering high unemployment, it may be a blessing.

At least now there are responsible managers in charge who can ascertain what is actually happening, who can work with the Government to make sensible plans for the benefit of the workers and the community.

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Tennis chiefs must be vigilant

THERE’S something about tennis in an Australian summer — the searing hot days, the exhilarating rallies and the marathon five-set matches.

Now, as the eyes of the sporting world turn to Melbourne, the Australian Open competition has been marred by claims of match fixing in tennis. It is claimed that 16 players who have been ranked in the world’s top 50, including eight who are playing this year in Melbourne, have repeatedly been flagged to the sport’s integrity unit.

Match fixing has tainted a variety of sports over the years, from cricket to football to basketball. There is no denying the popularity of tennis in Australia. Witness the 100,000 spectators who attended the Brisbane International earlier this month and the more than 700,000 expected in Melbourne.

The bodies governing tennis must ensure monitoring authorities have the appropriate funding and support to investigate and prosecute claims and deal with them promptly for the sake of the players who do the right thing and the sport which has a permanent place in an Australian summer.

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Responsibility for election comment is taken by Lachlan Heywood, corner of Mayne Rd and Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661778). Contact details are available at www.couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us