Pollies united as they take Clive Palmer to task over Chinese rant

CLIVE Palmer was politically isolated yesterday, as MPs from both sides slammed his claim FIRB was racist against Chinese firms.

MINING tycoon Clive Palmer was politically isolated yesterday, as MPs from both sides slammed his claim that Australia's foreign investment rules discriminate against Chinese trying to buy into the resurgent resources sector.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh led the charge against Mr Palmer, the state's richest man, saying she had no problem with how the Foreign Investment Review Board went about its job.

Ms Bligh dismissed Mr Palmer's attack on the FIRB and Wayne Swan, to whom it reports, as a "colourful turn of phrase".

"I don't have any issues with the activities of the Foreign Investment Review Board," she said. "Everybody knows that Clive Palmer's a colourful character prone to a colourful turn of phrase.

"I think Queenslanders and Australians want to make sure that while foreign investment is welcome, that there is some gatekeeper that makes a good decision about whether it's always in the interests of our economy and I think the Foreign Investment Review Board is an important part of that."

Mr Swan's office was more pointed after Mr Palmer's broadside on Tuesday, referring to his links to the Queensland Liberal National Party, which he has backed financially.

"The Treasurer doesn't take advice from people who bankroll the Liberal Party's failed election campaigns," a spokesman said.

Mr Palmer, who has an estimated personal worth of $3.4 billion, is expanding his mining empire with a $7bn coal mine, power plant, rail and port development in central Queensland's Galilee Basin backed by Chinese finance.

He claimed, however, that Chinese investors did not receive concessions available to Americans under foreign investment rules and would not tolerate "the idea of being discriminated against because of the colour of their skin".

Queensland-based federal Minister for Competition Policy Craig Emerson yesterday dismissed the comments as a "crazy rant" by Mr Palmer.

"Obviously the Foreign Investment Review Board and the government of the day will have Australia's national interest at heart, he has his personal financial interest at heart," Dr Emerson said.

Liberal frontbencher George Brandis yesterday distanced himself from Mr Palmer. "No, I don't think there's any validity at all in his argument," the Queensland-based senator told ABC Radio.

China has pumped a record $34bn of investment into Australia in the past 18 months, according to the FIRB.