Queensland called on to save Palmer’s Nickel plant

Staff at Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel face anything but a festive season, with its possible closure casting gloom.

02/12/2015.Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill pictured at the Port of Townsville, on the north-eastern coast of Queensland. Jenny will travel to Brisbane in order to lobby the state government to help keep Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel refinery going. Cameron Laird / The Australian

Where employees once received luxury cars and Fijian holidays for Christmas, staff at Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel face anything but a festive season, with the possible closure of the refinery casting gloom over the regional economy.

The situation at the company — outlined in the West Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday — has become so dire that Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill will today travel to Brisbane to lobby the state government to do “whatever can be done … to keep the doors of the refinery open”, even if it’s a ­financial bailout.

This is despite Mr Palmer claiming in October that “as long as I am the owner of Queensland Nickel I will not allow the company to borrow funds from the Queensland government”.

“People say things, but at the moment my real concern is that I need both the company to be as open as possible to government, and the government to look at all reasonable steps and any possible assistance they might be able to give to keep the refinery open,” Ms Hill said yesterday.

This came after a Perth judge was told Ms Hill had last month met Queensland Nickel director Clive Mensink — Mr Palmer’s nephew — to discuss the possibility of job losses at the company.

“I want for those workers to know that they have a job into the new year ... At the moment, we can’t afford to lose (Queensland Nickel),” she said.

“This company has had some very good times, in terms of nickel prices. I believe the senior management when they say the projected nickel prices will put the operation at a profitable position in the next six months.” During those times of peak prices, company employees were lavished with overseas holidays and Mercedes Benz cars as Christmas ­bonuses.

But now, the refinery could be days away from collapse, with more than 600 jobs hanging in the balance unless $48 million from Mr Palmer’s estranged Chinese business partners can be secured, the WA court heard. The money is needed to meet a critical payment by next Monday, with the judge set to hold trial over such an interim payment that day.

Ms Hill said she believed the information before the court was “fairly accurate”, but that the company may only need a short-term injection of funds to survive. She said an estimated 3600 jobs — made up of company staff, and suppliers and contractors — were at risk.

Troy Popham, the president of Townsville’s business chamber, said the lack of clarity over the refinery’s future was affecting business confidence in the lead-up to Christmas.

“This appears to be very real now, given the court documents in Perth,” Mr Popham said.

“The fact that there is a significant decision or assessment to be made on Monday — the same day a judge is going to hand down a decision on the case — is quite concerning.

“We’re five minutes to midnight, how’s it going to play out?” he asked.

“That’s why Queensland Nickel has to give some clarity.”

The Australian Workers Union said it was unable to comment because its officials have had no success in discussing the financial situation with Queensland Nickel this week.