David Koch grills Clive Palmer over Queensland Nickel on Sunrise

IN a fiery interview with David Koch, Clive Palmer has slammed last night’s Four Corners program as ‘a big beat up’ and claimed the media are out to get him.

CLIVE Palmer and David Koch have faced off in a fiery interview this morning, which ended with Sunrise’s Kochie remarking that he hit a brick wall.

Mr Palmer, who was last night the subject of a 4 Corners program which appeared to present evidence he was acting as a shadow director of Queensland Nickel, claimed the media were out to get him, labelling last night’s program a “big beat up”.

He claimed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was doing nothing to help Queensland Nickel workers who had lost their jobs.

He said suggestions he continued to control the finances of the company from his position on a related Joint Venture committee were “rubbish”.

“I stood down as a director of Queensland Nickel (when elected to Parliament), but I remained as a member of the Joint Venture committee,” he said.

“The Joint Venture is made up of two companies who own the refinery and Queensland Nickel is just a manager with no assets or anything else.

“There is a Joint Venture agreement that was put in place in 1992 by the Queensland Government, which we have followed religiously, which sets out what Queensland Nickel is required to do contractually to satisfy the Joint Venture committee.

“This is just a complete beat up because the Federal Government is doing nothing about the 100,000 people that have lost their jobs across Australia to the resource boom.”

Kochie hit a brick wall - in his own words - when interviewing Clive Palmer on Sunrise this morning.

Asked about the outstanding entitlements of Queensland Nickel workers, Mr Palmer said he felt confident they would be paid.

“First, you have to understand that their entitlements came due while they were employed by the Queensland government, owned Queensland Nickel and BHP,” he said.

“They have contributed zero to their entitlements. I feel sure that their entitlements will be paid.”

Mr Palmer claimed he had “restrained” from commenting on the situation at Queensland Nickel because the “press run wild”.

“Let’s get Clive Palmer off the scene,” he said.

“It is about politics.

“It’s not about countless people have lost their jobs.”

At one point he told Mr Koch to “do your job” and investigate other Queensland companies who had been forced to lay off staff.

Mr Koch replied: “You are accusing everybody else of not looking after workers. You’ve got some directly responsible for you.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment on the Four Corners episode.

“I’ve made some criticisms of Mr Palmer and his management of the Queensland Nickel situation in the past,” he said.

“But I would say assuming he re-nominates I think the electors of Fairfax will cast a very stern judgement on him.”

I felt bullied by Palmer: Lazarus

“We had no input” ... former PUP Senator Glenn Lazarus.

A Four Corners producer yesterday released a series of text messages between himself and Mr Palmer on Twitter yesterday, after claims by the Fairfax MP he had not been offered an interview with the program.

The text messages show he had been contacted at least three times.

Former Palmer United Party Senator turned Independent Glenn Lazarus told Four Corners he felt bullied by Mr Palmer.

Today, he said he and his PUP colleagues weren’t allowed to have any say on hold the Party would vote on issues.

“We would come into the party room of a morning on a sitting week and the decisions had been made and we had no input,” he told ABC radio.

“And as I say, I didn’t have a minister in my office at all during my time as (part of) Palmer United.

“He kept a very close leash, short leash, on us and I guess kept us in the dark.

“And as I say, my staff wanted to have training, things like that, and he was very much against that. He just wanted to keep us very close and in the dark.”

Asked whether he felt like a pawn of Mr Palmer’s business interests, Mr Lazarus said, “yes, absolutely”.

Mr Palmer repeatedly dodged questions about Queensland Nickel during this morning’s Sunrise interview, instead talking about the Turnbull Government, claiming it needed to do more.

Eventually, Mr Koch grew tired of it.

Mr Koch: “I am not sure we got any answers out of this. You are prepared to do it. We will leave it there.”

Mr Palmer: “Good on you, you are a great Australian, Kochie. Good on you, see you. OK.”

Mr Koch: “I think I hit a brickwall.”