Clive Palmer seeks to heal rift from ‘mongrels’ attack, says he admires China

CLIVE Palmer is trying to retreat from his “mongrels” attack, saying it wasn’t directed at the Chinese community or the Beijing government.

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CLIVE Palmer is attempting to retreat from his extraordinary attack on Chinese “bastards’’ and “mongrels’’, claiming the inflammatory comments “were not directed at the Chinese community or the Chinese government’’.

The Palmer United Party leader, who has attracted sustained political and business criticism after lashing out on television on Monday night, said his comments were “directed at one Chinese state-owned company that has failed to honour its agreements and announcements made to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in early 2006’’.

In a media statement, the federal MP said: “The comments I made on the ABC’s Q & A program this week were not directed at the Chinese community or the Chinese government.’’

But some of Mr Palmer’s comments appeared to be directed at the Chinese government rather than an individual company, such as his estranged business partner, the Chinese state-owned Citic Pacific. Mr Palmer said of the Chinese on Monday night, “they shoot their own people, they haven’t got a justice system”.

In his statement today, he said: “I have been an admirer of China and its people for many years.’’

“The country’s art, culture, technology and economic advancements are something to behold, as are the virtues the Chinese people have for their families and the lives of so many,’’ Mr Palmer said.

He said PUP was “very fortunate’’ to have in its ranks “Australia’s first mainland-born Chinese Senator Dio Wang’’.

“I have been a major supporter of the Chinese for a long time. What is unacceptable is a Chinese state-owned enterprise that abuses the legal system for commercial gain in a global strategic effort to control resources,’’ he said.

Despite Mr Palmer’s written statement claiming his comments were not directed at the government in Beijing, he told ABC radio in Perth today “there’s no doubt that the Chinese government shoots thousands of people every year and suppresses political discussion’’.

Earlier Mr Palmer also told the Australian Financial Review he made “no distinction’’ between Citic Pacific and China’s leadership.

Mr Palmer’s attack came amid his increasingly bitter legal dispute with Citic Pacific, his partner in the Sino Iron project in Western Australia.

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His comments have unleashed a tide of criticism, with Tony Abbott adding his voice today by branding Mr Palmer’s outburst “so destructive” and “just over the top, shrill and wrong”.

The Prime Minister said Australia needed “a very strong relationship” with China and criticised the maverick MP for expressing a “personal bitterness issue” instead of a considered national policy.

“I think the Chinese appreciate Australia enough to understand that Mr Palmer just speaks for himself on an issue like this. He certainly isn’t speaking for Australia,” Mr Abbott told 4BC radio in Brisbane.

“I think that all politicians, when we open our mouths, should be constructive. Sometimes people are, sometimes people aren’t. Certainly Mr Palmer’s outburst on ABC TV the other night was just over the top, shrill and wrong.”

Mr Palmer not only lashed at Chinese “bastards” and “mongrels”, but added “they’re communist, they shoot their own people, they haven’t got a justice system and they want to take over this country”.

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Mr Palmer later sought to clarify that his remarks were directed at a “Chinese company which is taking Australian resources and not paying” rather than Chinese people.

Mr Abbott today questioned why someone of Mr Palmer’s standing would want to make such remarks.

“What Clive Palmer said the other night was so destructive and really it’s very hard to understand why someone who wants to be influential in our nation’s life would be so simplistic and counterproductive,” he said on ABC radio.

Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie added to the furore yesterday by declaring Australia must build a defence missile system and prepare for a Chinese invasion.

Asked today if he supported Senator Lambie’s views, Mr Palmer hung up on an ABC radio interviewer, saying: “I don’t want to talk about that ... because I don’t have to. Goodbye.”

Mr Abbott declined to compare Senator Lambie’s reaction to Pauline Hanson’s movement in the late 1990s, but observed both were “populist outbreaks on the right of politics and “in the end both pretty counterproductive in our national life”.

He added: “There’s no doubt that quirky newcomers attract an enormous amount of attention and there’s a king of sort of a celebrity factor that eventually attaches itself to some maverick members of parliament.

“In the end the job of the government is to do the right and reasonable and prudent things for the benefit of the people of Australia and it’s the job of the parliament to work constructively with the government of the day and that’s what I hope to do with the crossbench senators.”

Treasurer Joe Hockey urged Mr Palmer — who he said had a “very loud voice” — to put Australia’s best interests first.

“The relationship with China is deep enough and sophisticated enough to withstand the odd angry shot but they are our biggest trading partner and there are a heap of people employed in Australia as a result of the fact China is buying a lot of what we produce,” Mr Hockey said.

Former foreign minister Bob Carr said he was worried Mr Palmer’s comments could become “inflated and jumbled”.

He cited Australia’s goods trade with China passing $100 billion annually for the first time last month as proof it played a key role in Australians’ lives.

“Mr Palmer and senators in his own party seem blind to the fact that our economic linkage with China is now so fundamentally important for the living standards of every Australian family,” he told ABC’s Radio National.

“The Chinese will simply be bewildered. This can be easily explained in terms of this unusual MP’s business interest, but it’s going to linger.”

But BHP Billiton boss Andrew Mackenzie is unconcerned by the comments, saying the strength of Australia’s relationship with China would “rank more highly in the minds of the Chinese’’.

“I think the people in China can see through that,’’ Mr Mackenzie told ABC radio.

“They’re comments by an individual and they’re not on behalf of any other Australian supplier.’’

Barnaby Joyce described Senator Lambie’s comments about the threat of Chinese invasion as “dangerous” and said the new politician needed to watch her words.

“You are a senator of Tasmania,” the Agriculture Minister told the Nine Network. “No longer can you talk like you might at half-past seven at the corner pub.

“These things sound amusing when they’re said after 15 beers, but they’re very, very dangerous if you want to say them on national television.

“Think about those things before you say it, Jacqui.”

Additional reporting: AAP