Billionaire Clive Palmer told to ‘fix refinery yourself’

Clive Palmer has been challenged to dig into his own pockets to save his troubled nickel ­refinery.

Clive Palmer with his Rolls Royce Phantom.

Queensland’s current and former treasurers have challenged Clive Palmer to dig into his own pockets and sell his luxury assets to save his troubled nickel ­refinery, instead of relying on Queensland taxpayers.

The self-proclaimed billionaire and federal MP this week demanded the state government act as guarantor for a $35 million bank overdraft to keep his Townsville refinery open and its 776 staff employed. Mr Palmer’s plea came after a West Australian judge rejected his bid to ­extract cash from his estranged Chinese business partners in the Sino Iron ore project.

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt yesterday warned such a guarantee would set a “very concerning precedent” that would “open the floodgates for future claims”. “At the end of the day, Mr Palmer is a businessman with a very large business empire,” Mr Pitt said. “People’s expectations are that he should be looking within that empire to support the continued operation of Queensland Nickel.”

He said he was considering Mr Palmer’s “11th hour” plea, but said Queensland Nickel still had not completely opened its books to government-appointed auditors KPMG.

Former Liberal National Party treasurer Tim Nicholls said the government “should not be bailing out a self-proclaimed billionaire”. “Clive Palmer should be using his own resources, which he boasts about, to ­address any temporary shortfall that his business might be experiencing,” he said. “That’s the normal course of business for any company, whether you’re BHP Billiton or Clive Palmer. Clive Palmer should consider selling his Rolls-Royces, selling his golf courses, selling his planes or his boats, and not asking the Queensland government to bail him out or provide a guarantee.

“If he believes in his businesses so much, he should put the money in, not the Queensland taxpayer. Either Clive Palmer’s supposed fortune is a house of cards, or he’s not willing to risk his own money to save the jobs at Queensland Nickel and he doesn’t really truly believe in the future of the company.”

Bob Carnegie, state secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, which covers Queensland Nickel workers on Townsville’s port, said workers had not had a pay rise at the refinery for four years. “Clive should be digging into his own wealth … if the Labor Party, in any way, shape or form, gives 10c to Clive Palmer, I’ll resign from the ALP,” Mr Carnegie said.

Asked yesterday whether he would use his wealth to prop up Queensland Nickel, rather than rely on the Chinese, banks or the state government, Mr Palmer said in a text message: “QN has 1.9 billion dollars of u encumbered assets it does need propping up with assets It need a proper policy from the banking system.”

In a statement released this week, Mr Palmer said Queensland Nickel had unencumbered assets of nearly $2bn, but big banks wouldn’t lend to the company because they had a policy against supporting the resources sector. The big four banks rejected Mr Palmer’s claims.

While the West Australian court case shed new light on the perilous financial state of Mr Palmer’s businesses, details about the state of the MP’s personal finances remain unclear. Quizzed by Supreme Court judge Paul Tottle during Monday’s hearing about why Mr Palmer wasn’t extending money to Queensland Nickel from his personal reserves, Mr Palmer’s lawyer, Simon Couper QC, said doing so would require a “fire sale” to get the cash together.

The urgency of such a fire sale would force Mr Palmer to wear a large discount on their true value, causing the MP an “irrecoverable loss”. On that basis it would seem that whatever remaining personal wealth Mr Palmer does have is tied up in ­assets rather than sitting in bank accounts, with Mr Palmer either unable or unwilling to borrow against those assets and prop up the refinery himself.

The Australian revealed last month Mr Palmer had knocked back an offer of $32 million for his Coolum resort, which has been shut since March “for renovations” after a steady decline in visitor numbers. Mr Palmer’s Cessna Citation, one of four private jets owned by the MP, has also been put up for sale with an asking price of more than $7m.