How Clive Palmer engineered entry to the ranks of world leaders

WHEN Clive Palmer wanted people to know about a remarkable appointment, he issued a media release and prepared to bask in adulation.

Clive Palmer

WHEN Clive Palmer wanted the world to know about his remarkable appointment to an exalted new role advising prime ministers and presidents across the globe, he issued a media release and prepared to bask in a glow of public adulation.

It was December 18 last year, and breaking news was thin on the ground the week before Christmas.

The prime ministerial aspirant's media release began: "Professor Clive Palmer has been appointed as the Joint Secretary General of the World Leadership Alliance, one of the most significant Australian appointments since HV 'Doc' Evatt was appointed president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948."

GRAPHIC: Clive's path to global stature

To reinforce the importance of his elevation, Mr Palmer explained that, via the alliance (which had not previously existed), he was looking forward to being a "major adviser to the G20", the global economic and decision-making forum for world leaders, who are due to meet in Brisbane next year.

He added that he had also been made "president of the World Economic Council". Certainly, achievements such as those were not attained by Evatt, who had been a mere High Court judge, federal attorney-general during World War II, Labor Party leader in opposition, and a NSW chief justice, until his death in 1965.

As journalists received the news of Mr Palmer's promotion, the reaction was immediately positive. The Sydney Morning Herald headlined it: "Palmer to advise on G20 summit".

Mr Palmer, who has launched numerous legal actions for damages (including most recently against The Australian), stressed that he would be advising governments on democracy. "It's a great honour for me to work with all those people," he said. "I certainly don't know why they chose me to be the world secretary-general."

An investigation by The Australian uncovered one reason why Mr Palmer may have been chosen in annual financial accounts, lodged in Spain two months ago by the cash-strapped Club de Madrid, the organisation that gave unexpected birth to the World Leadership Alliance and the World Economic Council.

Mr Palmer, a resources tycoon, was in pole position to land the lofty appointments because he had, confidentially, been the largest donor of funds to Club de Madrid, a forum for former heads of state and government, including former Dutch prime minister Wim Kok, the club's current president; former New Zealand prime minister Jenny Shipley, the club's vice-president; former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien; and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

Club de Madrid and its affiliates are not listed as advisers to the G20. Instead, the body says it works closely with "key international institutions" such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the OECD, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), ASEAN and the UN.

Credible think tanks and senior government sources have scoffed at suggestions that Mr Palmer and the World Leadership Alliance would be key advisers to the G20.

Treasurer Chris Bowen's office said last night: "Any suggestion that Mr Palmer is an adviser to the G20 is not grounded in reality. The G20 came to prominence as an important global body responding to the global financial crisis and Australia played a critical role in that."

The financial accounts of Club de Madrid reveal that, last year, Mr Palmer opened his wallet with a donation of E500,000. It was channelled from Queensland Nickel, which made a loss of $58 million in the financial year to June 30, 2012.

Another donation, E229,200, flowed from his loss-making Mineralogy, which is embroiled in litigation in a bid to be paid disputed royalty payments by Chinese company CITIC Pacific for an iron ore development in the Pilbara in Western Australia.

These donations by Mr Palmer of more than $1m comprised about 40 per cent of the total that Club de Madrid received from the private sector for the year.

Mr Palmer's generous contributions even dwarfed those by major public-sector donors including NATO (E20,000) and AusAid (E95,000). Thanks to his donations, Club de Madrid's 2012 deficit was whittled back to E214,000 after its 2011 surplus of E619,000.

Searches by The Australian could not locate any evidence that the World Leadership Alliance or the World Economic Council had been promoted or written about in public forums until the fortuitous December 18 announcement of the new roles for Mr Palmer.

Searches of internet domain name registrations and trademark applications show that, four months prior to his appointment, Mr Palmer had formally snared the names of the entities.

On July 12 last year, according to a domain registry, an applicant named Clive Palmer with an email address and telephone number for his company, Mineralogy Pty Ltd, registered the domain name world-leadership-alliance.com.

The following month, Mineralogy Pty Ltd lodged multiple trademark requests for World Leadership Alliance and World Economic Council, giving Mr Palmer the legal right to use the names that would be unveiled in December.

In a glossy World Leadership Alliance brochure, he states: "The World Economic Council provides an opportunity for global business leaders to collaborate with former world leaders in respect of fostering democratic leadership across the globe."