Clive Palmer cries foul in brawl over private jet

Clive Palmer’s companies claim the appointment of a barrister to represent the funder of the Queensland Nickel liquidation lawsuit, breached a $90m settlement.

Businessman Clive Palmer. Picture: AAP

Clive Palmer’s companies claim the appointment of a barrister to represent the funder of the Queensland Nickel liquidation lawsuit, which is trying to claw back $21m that was used to buy a private jet, breached a $90m settlement deed.

QNI Resources and QNI Metals, which jointly own the Townsville nickel refinery, say the appointment of Shane Doyle as a barrister for the liquidation funder Vannin Capital is unfair because he was involved in last year’s estimated $90m settlement with the businessman for another liquidator.

The companies are using the claim to argue that the terms of the settlement deed in the Queensland Nickel liquidation trial were breached.

The matter was heard before Justice John Bond in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Metals and Resources, which are both owned by Mr Palmer, claimed the fact Mr Doyle was briefed on the matter could jeopardise their defence of Vannin’s pursuit of Metals and Resources over the $21m loan to Palmer Aviation, which went into administration in 2016.

The luxurious plane was purchased with a loan that was guaranteed by Queensland Nickel, which managed the refinery for Metals and Resources.

Queensland Nickel collapsed in 2016 with debts of more than $200m, costing about 800 workers their jobs. The federal government spent more than $66m to cover employee entitlements under its Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme.

The government then app­ointed special purpose liquidator Stephen Parbery to chase the money in the liquidation process.

Vannin funded the general purpose liquidator John Park, who was trying to claw back money for other creditors. Mr Doyle was appointed as Mr Parbery’s barrister, representing him at trial until the settlement was reached in August.

Mr Palmer has sworn an affidavit saying appointing Mr Doyle’s proposed representation of Vannin could compromise his companies’ case because he was privy to the terms of the settlement and possibly confidential information.

Mr Doyle was retained as a legal representative for Vannin in April, but the appointment was not noticed by Metals and Resources until June 1.

According to court documents, Mr Parbery, who effectively represented Queensland Nickel, consented to Mr Doyle acting for Vannin — which has since cancelled Mr Doyle’s appointment and argues the application should be dropped.

But Metals and Resources have continued it, seeking information that could be used to stack up its claim that the settlement deed in the Queensland Nickel liquidation trial was breached.