Judge calls bluff as Clive Palmer’s bluster proves to be hot air

Not for the first time, Clive Palmer has been caught out blustering — except this time it appears he may have been trying to call the bluff of a West Australian Supreme Court judge.

On Monday, his barrister, Simon Couper QC, told judge Paul Tottle that Palmer’s business empire, particularly his Queensland Nickel refinery, had serious cashflow problems (which we knew).

Then came the headline-grabbing warning: unless the judge ­ordered Palmer’s estranged Chinese partner Citic to hand over $US48 million ($66m) that day, the refinery would collapse the next morning with the loss of ­almost 800 jobs in Townsville. There were no ifs or buts. The collapse of QN was a fait accompli unless it received a massive overnight cash injection.

Justice Tottle refused to make the order.

The next day came and went, and Queensland Nickel did not sink into administration.

As of last night, it remained a going concern and all of the workers still had jobs.

It’s clear from reading the ­Tottle judgment — handed down on Monday night — that he ­simply did not believe Palmer’s threat that he would sack the workers and close down QN if he didn’t get the money.

In fact, he found there was no evidence that Palmer or anyone else had even made any effort to resolve QN’s financial problems.

“This is surprising given QN’s long trading history, its strong balance sheet and its important position within the Queensland economy and society,” he said.

Tottle pointed out that QN’s managing director, Clive Mensink, Palmer’s nephew, had not provided any evidence about whether he had tried to raise fin­ance from sources other than the major banks, or whether he had tried to raise money from asset sales or in any other ways.

Nor had Mensink even spoken to an insolvency practitioner about the “wisdom of taking the extraordinary step of sacking the workforce”.

“One would think that making a decision about QN’s workforce is a decision which would be made in conjunction with the prospective administrator,” the judge said.

“I am prepared to accept there is a risk that QN may be placed into administration, but I am not prepared to accept that the dire consequences outlined in the … ­affidavits will flow from QN being placed into administration.”

Citic’s lawyer, Charles Scerri, had already argued that QN’s “drop dead date” to stay afloat had originally been last Friday, but that had suddenly been extended by several days.

With no joy from the court in Perth, Palmer flew his private jet to Brisbane late on Monday for a meeting yesterday with Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt to ask for emergency assistance from the state’s taxpayers.

Rarely has a self-proclaimed billionaire appeared so desperate for cash.