Clive Palmer shifts his corporate HQ from NZ to Singapore

Clive Palmer, who moved control of his business empire to NZ in December, relocates his HQ once more as he seeks to revive a threat to sue taxpayers for $45bn.

Clive Palmer at his office in Brisbane. Picture: Glenn Hunt

Clive Palmer has shifted his corporate headquarters from New Zealand to Singapore, as he seeks to revive his threat to sue Australian taxpayers for $45 billion.

The Queensland businessman moved control of much of his business empire to Auckland in December in the hope it could allow him to potentially claim compensation from the federal government under investor protection provisions of the Australia-NZ free-trade agreement.

The move was short-lived after legal experts pointed out that Mr Palmer’s ploy had no chance of succeeding because the FTA did not contain inter­national dispute mechanisms.

According to a filing last week with the corporate regulator, Mr Palmer’s flagship private company Mineralogy is now owned by Mineralogy International, which is registered in Singapore, with its address listed as the NTUC Centre in the city-state.

The Singapore-Australia FTA signed in 2003 includes an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.

Mr Palmer has threatened to launch a damages claim if West Australian Premier Mark McGowan carries through with his threat to legislate in favour of Chinese state-owned company CITIC’s interests in the $US10bn Sino Iron project in the Pilbara.

“The commonwealth would have to pay us compensation within six months,” he said last month. “Mark McGowan would be making the taxpayer of Australia pay for this.”

Mr Palmer declined to comment yesterday on his latest move, but he still faces some big hurdles if he decides to sue.

International trade lawyers told The Australian last month that international tribunals had ruled against companies that set up in a foreign jurisdiction for the purposes of gaining access to the benefits of an investment treaty.

In November, Mr McGowan threatened to intervene in the latest stoush between CITIC, operator of Sino Iron, and Mineralogy, which owns the mining leases. CITIC claims Mineralogy is refusing to sign off on planned expansions at Sino Iron critical to its viability. Mr McGowan, who says he wants to save 3000 jobs at the mine, has proposed altering the state agreement to remove the need for Mineralogy to sign off on expansions.