Treasurers play hot potato with fate of Clive Palmer refinery

The Queensland government has ruled out a $10m cash bailout for Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery.

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt and Scott Morrison are at odds over who should find the funds to keep Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery afloat. Picture Kym Smith

The Queensland government has ruled out a $10 million cash bailout for Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery but will consider going bank guarantor, the state’s Treasurer has revealed.

The fate of the refinery, worth more than $1 billion to the Queensland economy, last night remained at state and federal level after administrators FTI Consulting conceded closure was imminent without an immediate cash injection.

While Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt and Scott Morrison were at odds over who should find the funds, The Australian understands the state government was prepared to go guarantor in a worst-case scenario.

The Queensland government previously rejected Mr Palmer’s calls to become a bank guarantor for a $35m loan he was seeking before QNI went into administration in January.

But a source told The Australian the state’s position could change should the federal government refuse to intervene.

If the state were to go guarantor however, it would expect the federal government to agree to a “a 50/50 split”, the source said.

Member for Herbert Ewen Jones, whose north Queensland electorate takes in Townsville and the Yabulu refinery, insisted Mr Morrison had “never said no” to any options but it was up to the state government to “come to us with a plan”.

He said the call for a $10m overdraft to keep the refinery operational until ore supply recovered was “primarily a state issue”.

He also accused the state government of being “completely unable to do anything on their own north of the Tropic of Capricorn”.

“The state government has had very little skin in the game until this point,” Mr Jones told The Australian. “They need to be the first to man up here ... Scott Morrison, I’m sure, will be more tactful than that.”

Townsville Enterprises chairman Kevin Gill said the time for uncertainty and playing politics had passed.

“Unemployment is a serious issue. We all know that the economy is vulnerable,’’ Mr Gill said.