Clive Palmer denies responsibility of oil spill near nickel refinery

Clive Palmer denies responsibility for an an oil spill between his mothballed Queens­land Nickel refinery and Townsville.

Businessman Clive Palmer denies any responsibility for an oil spill near his nickel refinery. Picture: AAP

Queensland’s environmental authorities are investigating an oil spill in the rail corridor linking Clive Palmer’s mothballed Queens­land Nickel refinery and the Port of Townsville.

Mr Palmer insists his ­refinery is not responsible for the spill, but has sent staff to clean it up.

The state’s Environment ­Department has inspected the site, near Mount Low Parkway, north of Townsville, and taken samples of the oil in an attempt to confirm the source.

Mr Palmer’s refinery has been shut down in care-and- maintenance mode since early 2016 after its management company collapsed under $300 million in debt, costing nearly 800 workers their jobs.

A Department of Environment and Science spokesman said the oil had soaked into the soil at the site, about halfway ­between the Port of Townsville and the refinery at Yabulu.

“DES will engage with the relevant parties involved once the origin of the oil has been established,” he said.

“Similarly, the department will require the ­responsible party to appropriately clean and remediate affected areas, if the responsible party can be determined.”

Queensland Rail — which owns the rail corridor — raised the alarm during the week and said the oil was not related to its activities, but from a pipeline.

“(The department) has ­advised the source of the impact is yet to be confirmed, but may be associated with an external party’s underground oil pipeline that traverses the area,” QR said.

Mr Palmer said the spill was not on land belonging to or leased by the refinery — which he said was not responsible for the environmental incident — and said he did not know who currently controlled the pipeline.

“We’ve got about 40 people at the refinery and we offered them to the community; they’ve gone down to fix it (the spill),” he said.

The former federal MP yesterday announced his defunct Palmer United Party would run candidates in every seat at the next federal election and stand for the Senate in every state. “We need to expand our economy and provide growth for all Australians,” Mr Palmer said. “Palmer United has the team to do it. It’s time to join the resistance.”

Mr Palmer deregistered the party last May and needs 500 party members to reregister and run candidates under the PUP banner. He said he would not run for parliament again.

Liquidators are suing Mr Palmer and his corporate empire in a bid to recover debts owed to Queensland Nickel’s creditors, including $70m owed to taxpayers who were forced to cover workers’ unpaid entitlements.