‘I told her I would drag her to court, but I did not yell’, says Palmer

CLIVE Palmer threatened to take Senate officials to the High Court last week.

PUPs Meeting Canberra

CLIVE Palmer threatened to take Senate officials to the High Court after they told him last week amendments to the carbon tax repeal bills were unconstitutional and could not be circulated to senators.

But Mr Palmer denied yelling at a senate assistant clerk.

Mr Palmer said he had told her he would “drag them before the High Court” but that he did not raise his voice.

The altercation occurred last Thursday as the Palmer United Party senators presented to officials the latest draft of their amendment to guarantee carbon tax savings were passed on to consumers.

Mr Palmer said the official “ran away’’ after he threatened to take her to the High Court and told her she had no right to veto legislation.

Despite the government supporting the amendment, the official advice was that it was unconstitutional because it represented a money bill. Money bills can only be introduced into the House of Representatives.

But Mr Palmer said “bureaucrats’’ did not have the right to put a “veto” on PUP Senate leader Glenn Lazarus presenting the amendment and he had been prepared to go to the High Court to seek an injunction.

It was only fair to let the official know this was what he was contemplating, he said.

Asked if he had a problem with the clerk of the Senate, Mr Palmer said: “I have a problem with any person who’s not an elected representative of parliament who seeks to veto legislation.’’

After the unconstitutional amendment was presented, Senate officials made minor changes that made it constitutional.

Clerks frequently work with MPs from all parties to help them correctly draft legislation.

However the PUP senators withdrew their amendment and voted against the carbon tax repeal legislation.

A reworked amendment was introduced into the House of Representatives and passed yesterday.

The incident has been referred to Senate President Stephen Parry.

However, Mr Palmer said he was not concerned about the Senate President because he was “a former undertaker”.