Clive Palmer ‘depicted Mark McGowan as corrupt’

Billionaire Clive Palmer portrayed WA Premier Mark McGowan as a corrupt politician, the Federal Court has heard.

Clive Palmer aboard his yacht on Sydney Harbour on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Billionaire Clive Palmer portrayed West Australian Premier Mark McGowan as a corrupt politician who was using legislation to cover up his criminality and grant himself immunity from prosecution, the Federal Court has heard.

The men are suing each other for defamation in a case that stemmed from their war of words over Mr McGowan’s efforts to legislate a potential $30bn-plus lawsuit against his state from Mr Palmer, as well as the magnate’s High Court challenge against WA’s interstate border restrictions.

Mr Palmer is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday as the trial’s first witness.

Mr Palmer’s lawyer, Peter Gray SC, on Monday said Mr McGowan was “vicious” when he labelled the Queensland businessman “an enemy of the state” during press conferences last year, arguing that language painted Mr Palmer as a traitor.

On Tuesday, one of Mr McGowan’s lawyers, Clarissa Amato, detailed the Premier’s defamation counter-claim against Mr Palmer.

She said Mr Palmer had also implied Mr McGowan was willing to accept multimillion-dollar bribes from Chinese interests: “The message Mr Palmer is conveying is that the Chinese operate by getting whatever they want, however they want, and if that includes bribing a head of state to get access to resources, then that’s what they’ll do.”

Mr Gray said his client – who collects hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the Chinese-owned Sino Iron mine in WA – was talking only about the Chinese government, not the Premier. “The Chinese are about control,” he said.

“The Chinese are the sort of people who will offer bribes — that’s being said. The notion that Mr McGowan is open to accepting such a bribe is not said at all.”

Ms Amato noted how Mr Palmer in a media interview had compared Mr McGowan with former US president Richard Nixon and accused the WA Premier of hatching legislation that would give him immunity from criminal prosecution.

The legislation, rushed through the WA parliament last year, effectively killed off a legal claim against the state from Mr Palmer over a previous government decision to refuse him approvals for one of his iron ore ventures. Mr Palmer in subsequent media interviews seized upon provisions protecting Mr McGowan and closing off any Freedom of Information avenues regarding the matter.

“It’s quite clear Mr Palmer is suggesting there has been some grave and nefarious wrongdoing by the government and Mr McGowan that has given rise to the need for this legislation,” Ms Amato said.