It's my money and none of the voters' business, says Clive Palmer

MINING tycoon Clive Palmer has lashed out at questions about the state of his private companies, declaring it to be none of voters' business.

Clive Palmer

MINING tycoon Clive Palmer has lashed out at questions about the state of his private companies, declaring it to be none of voters' business, as he runs for the prime minister's office backed by more than 100 candidates representing his fledgling party at the federal election.

Mr Palmer stood by his claim about receiving $500 million in annual royalties from Chinese companies despite a strong denial from one of his partners, CITIC Pacific, and the release of company accounts showing no such payments.

The entrepreneur, whose Palmer United Party is appealing for votes nationwide, insisted there were some royalty payments flowing but would not say how much they were worth.

"That's none of your business," he said at a media conference in Canberra at which he promised $1 billion for the ACT health system as part of an $80bn national strategy, while rebuking the Gillard government for not putting a priority on the nation's citizens.

Mr Palmer rejected a call from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to guarantee 1000 jobs at his Townsville nickel refinery, turning on the Liberal National Party leader, accusing him of economic mismanagement.

Asked if he would release his company accounts before the election so voters could know the state of his financial interests, Mr Palmer said he signed statements under corporate law and that should answer any voter concerns. "It's none of their business, really," he said.

The latest annual report for Mr Palmer's private company Mineralogy, available from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and obtained by The Australian, shows the company posted a net profit because it claimed an $88.2m "fair value gain" on future royalty payments.

The report does not disclose any royalty revenue and reveals the company's cash reserves more than halved to $16.4m at the end of June last year, running out at a rate that could put the company in trouble if it does not receive another cash injection this year.

Mr Palmer confirmed yesterday that he wrote to his Chinese partners in March but would not comment on the details after The Australian revealed he had sought $200m and warned that 1000 jobs at the nickel refinery would be at risk if he did not get it.

"What I'm saying to you is that letter was written on the 13th of March, it was stolen from our office by a break-in which is subject to a police investigation," he said.

"Now I can't actually go into that with you because of the police investigation. But I can tell you, can I just tell you that today is the 17 of June [sic], that arrangements have been made to ensure that the refinery has no problems."

Mr Palmer promised to make a "detailed statement" on the Chinese negotiations on Monday and attacked The Australian for asking about his corporate interests before ending the press conference, as a country and western band drowned out questions.

Mr Palmer rejected questions about why it took almost a year for him to lodge the 2012 financial accounts and rejected the suggestion that he reveal the current year's accounts before the September 14 election because he was seeking to be prime minister.

Asked to guarantee the jobs at the Townsville refinery, Mr Palmer said: "I don't guarantee anything here. I'm making a statement on Monday to our workforce who are partly involved in this and have been frightened by your journalists who have got no morals or ethics."

Hitting out at The Australian and its national chief correspondent, Hedley Thomas, for revealing the March plea for cash, Mr Palmer attacked "Hedley whatever his name is" as a poor journalist in the tabloid press in London.

Thomas has won five Walkley awards for excellence in journalism.

At his South Australian campaign launch in Adelaide earlier in the day, Mr Palmer denied The Australian entry. He defended the decision and attempted to link News Limited to an alleged break-in at his company's offices.

"It's up to us, who we invite," Mr Palmer said. "It's a freedom of choice. Rupert Murdoch gets on the telephone and tells people what to do. I've had my office broken into. I've had all of our files stolen. We've seen what's happened to News Limited in London, and that's how they operate. So I just don't condone a criminal organisation."

Clive Mathieson, editor of The Australian, said Thomas knew his sources' "proximity to the documents in question" and Mr Palmer should not fob off reporters who asked legitimate questions about his businesses interests.

"Mr Palmer is running for the highest office in the country," Mathieson said. "He should expect additional scrutiny and be prepared to answer questions in the interests of transparency.

"Despite Mr Palmer's decision this morning to lock The Australian out of his press conference - and his legal threats against the newspaper - we will not be deterred from investigating his business interests. It is ludicrous - and offensive - to suggest The Australian had any hand in a break-in at Mr Palmer's offices or the theft of documents."

In Canberra, Mr Palmer attacked Mr Newman and said it was a "fabrication" for the Premier to claim he was using his contacts in the LNP to demand meetings with state ministers and the Premier himself. "I resigned from the LNP and I'm standing against Tony Abbott for prime minister," he said. "And Campbell Newman is well known for destroying the Queensland economy and sacking 15,000 people, when all I've done is create jobs in the economy and continue to do so."

The financial accounts show that Queensland Nickel - a separate company from Mineralogy - lost $58m last year but Mr Palmer denied it was losing that amount. "Well I love losing money! I love losing money. What's wrong with that?" he said when first asked about the losses, before denying the amount.

"Now the truth about the nickel refinery is that it was going to be closed in 2009 by BHP. That 1000 workers were going to be sacked. Well now in 2013 it's not closed, there's been no announcement of its closure and that's the facts of the matter."

Queensland Nickel yesterday told the Townsville Fire women's basketball team it was dropping its major sponsorship of the side for the upcoming season, which kicks off in October. Townsville Fire general manager Judy Higgins said Mr Palmer's refinery had saved the team from collapse when it became its chief sponsor two seasons ago, but had yesterday informed it the sponsorship would not be renewed "due to internal circumstances".

Asked if Mineralogy was burning through cash, Mr Palmer said he had no obligation to reveal any details. "I'd just pump $100m or $200m in like Rupert Murdoch," he said, referring to the chairman of News Corporation, the ultimate parent company of The Australian.

The Mineralogy accounts reveal that last Monday Mr Palmer signed an irrevocable agreement not to call in his personal loans to the company for a period of 12 months.

The agreement was disclosed in a section of the accounts headed "going concern" and was central to the assurance in the accounts about the continuity of the company's normal business activities.

Auditing firm Ernst & Young referred to this and other parts of the accounts when concluding that the accounts were in accordance with the Corporations Act.

The accounts also show that he spent nearly $20m on a failed bid to list the company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Facing increasing questions about the state of his companies, the mining tycoon said on Sunday that he was getting about $500m a year in royalties from his Chinese partners. One of those companies, Chinese investor CITIC Pacific, told The Australian this week that it was not paying $500m a year to Mineralogy as Mr Palmer claimed and it did not know the basis of the claim.

The Mineralogy accounts, publicly available from ASIC, show no royalty payments worth $500m.

Mr Palmer said there had been "misreporting" about his companies but would not comment further because he would respond on Monday. Asked if his companies had received any of the royalties yet, Mr Palmer said some money had been paid. Asked how much, he said: "That's none of your business."

Additional reporting: Sarah Elks, Andrew Fraser, Mark Schliebs