Clive Palmer says 'I swear but I'm no bully'

CLIVE Palmer admits he swears "all the time", but has dismissed a claim by a former employee that he is a "tyrannical bully".

Clive Palmer

BUSINESSMAN Clive Palmer admits he swears "all the time", but has dismissed a claim by a former employee that he is a "tyrannical bully".

The Queensland mining magnate, who takes his seat in parliament today, said the man who made the accusation was a disgruntled former employee.

Mike Hennessy, 58, said "the real Mr Palmer" exploded with foul abuse at staff, falsely accused loyal managers at his resort on the Sunshine Coast of being "lazy, thieving c . . ts", and privately mocked voters.

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Mr Palmer said he was not the person Mr Hennessy claimed, dismissing his former employee as "a lowly-paid security guard earning less than $60,000 a year".

"I have thousands of people working for me. This individual I don't know so well,' he said.

"People can, in BHP and in Rio Tinto, find disgruntled employees. Even in News Limited, even at The Australian, there is disgruntled employees."

Mr Palmer said he was known to use swear words, but that shouldn't be news

"I swear all the time," he told reporters in Canberra this morning.

"I can swear at you if you want me to. But you've got to ask as a journalist, 'Does that warrant a front page story?'."

Meanwhile, Mr Palmer Clive Palmer says he wants to drop his defamation lawsuit against LNP Member for Fisher and former Howard minister Mal Brough.

Mr Palmer says he will write to Mr Brough and ask for the truce, on the condition Mr Brough pays his own legal costs.

"It's up to him to agree to it," the newly-elected billionaire MP told AAP.

"My wife said it was in the best interest of the electorate that Mal and I work together to bring about some good things for the Sunshine Coast.

"Mal and I have to serve the people who elected us to bring about social change, regardless of what political parties we come from.

"We're heading into Christmas, and I'd say the same to Mal, we've got to offer reconciliation."

In September, Mr Palmer lodged a defamation suit against Mr Brough over events relating to the Peter Slipper-James Ashby affair.

Mr Palmer claimed Mr Brough once asked him to fund a campaign aimed at destroying former speaker Mr Slipper's reputation.

He claimed that during a meeting at his Coolum Resort in April 2012, Mr Brough outlined a potential sexual harassment case by Mr Ashby against his former boss Mr Slipper, and sought funding to pursue it.

Mr Brough denied Mr Palmer's allegations and accused the Palmer United Party founder of longstanding inconsistencies around the issue.

Mr Brough has been approached for comment.

Additional reporting: AAP