Open for bookings: pencil in Palmer for court entertainment

In the Federal Court in Brisbane, musings, quotations and selected works from Clive Palmer bloomed.

Mao Zedong (upon whose knee Clive Palmer insists he sat in 1962 at the age of seven) channelled his musings, quotations and selected speeches into the Little Red Book.

We have Mr Palmer’s word that he really did clamber onto the knee of China’s Great Helmsman; unfortunately, the Little Red Book doesn’t describe the special event.

In the Federal Court in Brisbane yesterday, musings, quotations and selected works from the Little Green Book of Queensland’s most brazen tycoon bloomed.

Tom Sullivan QC came up with the catchy title to describe a document that has suddenly materialised from Mr Palmer and become a central part of his evidence in the liquidators’ hearing.

According to Mr Palmer, he wrote often, always in pencil ­funnily enough, and over several years in his never-seen-before journal, about key decisions and events for his beleaguered nickel refinery in Townsville.

But Mr Sullivan seems to think the Little Green Book might be a more recent invention, or a complete crock, perhaps conveniently conjured to vary some Queensland Nickel commercial arrangements in his favour.

Mr Palmer, who has recent Sup­reme Court form for being caught out backdating commercial documents to benefit himself, insists it is ­perfectly legit.

The founder of the Palmer United Party was relatively calm during his inquisition, with some testy moments when he was unwisely coaching an increasingly frustrated and incredulous Mr Sullivan to pull his socks up. “For God’s sake, lift your game!” ­declared the tycoon, who once boasted (misleadingly) a 68-nil ­record in litigation.

In terms of entertainment value, a liquidators’ examination of a retired dinosaur farmer is a poor substitute for just about any of Mr Palmer’s glorious press ­conferences when he abused journ­alists, China, Campbell Newman, Tony Abbott and his own senators. But it was only the first day, and Mr Palmer has given us much to look forward to: “I can be here for a year if need be.”