McGowan indemnified over ongoing Palmer battles

Mr Palmer had hit WA and Mr McGowan with a barrage of lawsuits in recent years

The WA government will continue to cover Mark McGowan’s legal costs in the wake of his retirement.

Western Australian taxpayers will continue to pick up the bill for Mark McGowan’s legal battles with Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer after the state government decided to indemnify the former premier.

The leader in the upper house, Sue Ellery, told state parliament the government had entered a deed to provide Mr McGowan with a contractual indemnity to extend the protections he was entitled to before his sudden resignation.

Mr Palmer has hit WA and Mr McGowan with a barrage of lawsuits in the years since the WA government moved to legislate away a $30bn legal claim against the state from Mr Palmer’s private company Mineralogy.

The new deed means Mr McGowan’s reasonable costs in defending the matters and any future damages will be covered by the state, which will also direct the defence.

Ms Ellery said that in light of the number of legal challenges from Mr Palmer, and the possibility of more to come, cabinet had taken legal advice and decided to indemnify the former premier.

The indemnity does not cover any improper conduct.

“Throughout history, there has been a steadfast principle of indemnifying public servants and public officials in the discharge of their official responsibilities,” Ms Ellery said. “This principle recognises the importance of allowing individuals to fulfil their duties without fear of personal liability or persecution.

“Our government believes that now he is retired from public life, the former premier should continue to be provided with the appropriate legal protection from a potential future Clive Palmer legal action, given the lengths he was prepared to go to protect the interests of all Western Australians.”

The Queensland billionaire, who reaps hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties each year from the Sino Iron mine in WA’s Pilbara region, has brought 15 legal actions against WA, Mr McGowan and various ministers and officers since 2020.

Ms Ellery noted that 14 of those had either been unsuccessful or discontinued, with WA and the other defendants entitled to costs.

The legal campaign stemmed from the 2020 decision by the McGowan government to effectively kill off a compensation claim lodged by Mr Palmer over the state’s failure to progress Mr Palmer’s Balmoral South iron ore project. The billionaire had been arguing that he was entitled to tens of billions of dollars in damages.

The highest-profile legal battle between Mr Palmer and Mr McGowan since then was a defamation battle that ended last year. Mr McGowan was awarded $20,000 in damages and Mr Palmer $5000, while both men were criticised for wasting the court’s time by bringing the matters.

Mr Palmer also led a failed legal challenge against WA’s Covid-era border restrictions.

Mr McGowan late last month announced he would resign after more than six years as WA premier, citing exhaustion. He had led Labor to the biggest election win in Australian history in 2021, and was a prominent figure in Labor’s successful federal campaign in WA last year.

He was one of the last MPs to qualify for WA’s old pension scheme, meaning he is entitled to about $275,000 a year for the rest of his life.

Mr Palmer, meanwhile, said WA had taken “unprecedented” steps to protect Mr McGowan.

“I can understand why he’d be scared, but he shouldn’t be scared of me,” he said. “He should be concerned about the operations of criminal law for himself or any other state officers.”