Editorial: Callous Clive Palmer’s time is up at last

REGULAR readers will know we’re not a big fan of fallen businessman and federal MP Clive Palmer. His hubris, duplicity and arrogance knows no bounds. He is not the sort of person we want representing Australia.

26/1/2016: Embattled businessman and MP for the seat of Fairfax, Clive Palmer at the Australia Day citizenship ceremony at Palmwoods, on the Sunshine Coast. This is his first public appearance since his nickel refinery went into administration, and he clearly felt the humidity and heat, sweating and leaving quickly afterwards. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

REGULAR readers of The Sunday Mail will know we’re not a big fan of fallen businessman and federal MP Clive Palmer.

His hubris, duplicity and arrogance knows no bounds. His extraordinary and callous actions at the Yabulu nickel refinery have demonstrated to the Australian public that he has no morals, nor scruples.

INVISIBLE MAN: Palmer not seen in his electorate for months

REFINERY CLOSURE: Yabulu job losses hit hard

Mr Palmer has no intention of honouring the redundancy payments and entitlements owed to the 220 or so workers sacked from the refinery. That’s Mr Palmer’s modus operandi. He doesn’t care.

He doesn’t care about the refinery workers, his constituents in the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax, his fellow parliamentarians, the people who work for him at his run-down resorts ... the list is endless.

Even former footballer Glenn Lazarus, who fell under Mr Palmer’s big talking spell with a promise of fame and glory as a politician, has labelled him a bully.

PALMER: It’s Lazarus who’s to blame

Fairfax MP Clive Palmer at the Australia Day citizenship ceremony at Palmwoods, on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The irony for Mr Palmer is it seems it will be the courts that ultimately send him to the wall. When Mr Palmer was flush with money, he used the legal system to squash his opponents, throwing wads of cash at court battles to wear his opponents down. He even listed litigation as one of his hobbies in Who’s Who.

Now, in a series of damning court judgments against him, Mr Palmer’s empire is crumbling. Our tip is that he will be bankrupt by June 30, will lose his seat in a federal poll, and likely go to ground, licking his wounds. What we do know is that Mr Palmer is not the sort of person we want representing Australia in politics, nor on the international corporate stage.

His behaviour has been appalling.

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Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has an ambitious transport plan for the Brisbane CBD. Picture: Peter Wallis

GET OUR CITY MOVING

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s plan for a $1.5 billion rapid transit system linking Herston with Woolloongabba has great merit. Anything that gets Brisbane moving in the right direction is a big plus for the city. With a time frame for completion of around 2022, it represents another milestone in the state capital’s ascension to become a true world class city.

Star’s Queen’s Wharf project is due for completion around then, as is the Brisbane Airport Corporation’s second runway. The stars are aligning. By 2022, Queensland will lay claim to becoming the California of Asia. To realise our potential, tangible and properly funded transport solutions in a growing city are essential.

If Cr Quirk is re-elected, it is vital that the Federal and State governments get on board and support this project. If Labor’s Rod Harding is elected Lord Mayor, his tram plan should be backed. Either way, Brisbane needs a fresh injection of transport infrastructure to meet the growing demands of more permanent residents and visitors.

Published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778), corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld, 4006. Peter Gleeson accepts responsibility for election comment.