Clive Palmer rejects calls to pay Queensland Nickel redundancies

Clive Palmer has denied using the alias Terry Smith despite telling a court the opposite a few months ago.

Palmer in public

Clive Palmer has declared he has no personal responsibility for paying redundancy entitlements to the 237 workers sacked from his nickel refinery, and has denied using the alias Terry Smith.

At his first public appearance since the mass job cuts, the Fairfax MP preached a message of compassion, love and respect for his fellow man at a citizenship ceremony in his Sunshine Coast electorate to welcome 22 new Australians.

Offstage it was a different story, as Mr Palmer sweated, blustered and angrily mocked questions from The Australian about the operation of his troubled Townsville refinery, which sank into voluntary adminis­tration last week.

Asked whether he would dig into his personal wealth to ensure workers were paid their severance packages, the self-­proclaimed billionaire snapped.

“Well, of course I have no personal responsibility,” Mr Palmer said. “I retired from business over three years ago. Of the 22,000 workers who were sacked in Queensland and lost their jobs, none of the shareholders of any of those companies put up a cent.”

However, The Australian has evidence Mr Palmer, using an email address in the name “Terry Smith”, secretly ran the refinery and was responsible for approving expenditure at the plant between 2013 and last year — including when he was not formally registered as a director. Yesterday, Mr Palmer flatly denied using the Terry Smith moniker, and dodged questions about signing off on refinery spending.

“That’s just not true,” he said. “No, I’m Clive Palmer. I’m the member for Fairfax.”

Under oath, and under cross-examination in an unrelated Queensland Supreme Court case in September, the Palmer United Party leader was more forthcoming.

Barrister Lindsay Bowden, representing Mr Palmer’s ex-friend and ex-employee Bill Schoch, asked: “We see a number of emails with the code ‘Terry Smith’ on it. That’s you, is it not?”

Mr Palmer: “That’s right.”

The Australian understands the refinery’s IT database is being scoured for evidence of Terry Smith, to establish the extent of Mr Palmer’s involvement in the day-to-day running of the largest private employer in north Queensland.

Queensland Nickel’s first creditors’ meeting will be held on Friday in Townsville, where anger towards Mr Palmer is sharp. It is understood that the company’s debts, originally estimated to be $70 million, may now exceed $100m.

Australian Workers Union state secretary Ben Swan, who represents many of the sacked workers, said Mr Palmer had “not covered himself in glory” and needed to be upfront.

“It’s time for Mr Palmer to stop ducking and weaving and do what he said he would do and come out and tell the truth,” Mr Swan said.