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Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian businessman and
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. He has
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...
,
nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
, and
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...
holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at
Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...
, the Palmer Coolum Resort on the
Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...
, Palmer Sea Reef Golf Course at Port Douglas, Palmer Colonial Golf Course at Robina, and the Palmer Gold Coast Golf Course, also at Robina. He owned Gold Coast United FC from 2008 to 2012. Palmer created the Palmer United Party in April 2013, winning the Sunshine Coast seat of
Fairfax Fairfax may refer to: Places United States * Fairfax, California * Fairfax Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California * Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California, centered on Fairfax Avenue * Fairfax, Georgia * Fairfax, Indiana * Fa ...
in the
2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of ...
and sitting as an MP for one term. In 2018, after formally de-registering the party on 5 May 2017, Palmer revived his party as the United Australia Party, announcing that he would be running candidates for all 151 seats in the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and later that he would run as a Queensland candidate for the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
. In the 2019 federal election, despite extensive advertising, he and his party won no seats. His party later contested the 2022 federal election, and won 1 seat in the Senate. Palmer has frequently been involved in legal cases relating to his businesses, and once listed litigation as one of his hobbies in '' Who's Who''. He at times has been involved in complex cases, and journalist Hedley Thomas has written that Palmer's "lawyers take legal steps, presumably on his instructions, that prolong litigation and rack up costs for the other side" which can result in his opponents being unable to continue their case due to a lack of resources. Palmer has argued that the litigation he is involved in is justified as it rights wrongs. Palmer also attempted to use litigation as a gag order against his workers in his now defunct Queensland Nickel refinery, promising to pay the money he owed them only if they agreed not to make any disparaging comments about him. , Palmer was the seventh richest Australian, when ''
The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New S ...
'' assessed his net worth at 13.01  billion on the 2021 Rich List.


Early life

Palmer was born on 26 March 1954 at Footscray Hospital in Footscray, a suburb of
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...
, Victoria. He spent his early years in the nearby suburb of Williamstown. His family moved to Queensland in 1963, and Palmer was largely raised on the Gold Coast, where he attended
Aquinas College :''See also List of institutions named after Thomas Aquinas'' Aquinas College may refer to any one of several educational institutions: In Australia *Aquinas College, Perth, Roman Catholic boys' R–12 school *Aquinas College, Adelaide, residenti ...
and Southport State High School, although he also attended Toowoomba Grammar School for a short time. Palmer's father, George, was a travel agent, and the family travelled the world extensively. George Palmer was also the proprietor of the Akron Tyre Co and the Akron Broadcasting Co and was the founder of Melbourne broadcasting station
3AK 3AK is the call sign of SEN 1116, an earlier the on-air name of a former Melbourne talk-back radio and music station, which, in 2003, leased its licence to sports network SEN 1116. A number of unusual events and precedents throughout the stati ...
(now operating as
SEN 1116 1116 SEN (call sign 3AK) is an Australian radio station in Victoria. Owned and operated by Pacific Star Network, it broadcasts a sports radio format from Lower Plenty to Greater Melbourne. First broadcast on 29 November 1931 as 3AK, the sta ...
). Palmer studied law, journalism and politics at the
University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...
from 1973 to 1975, but did not finish the course. He later completed a Diploma of Law through the Queensland Bar Board, and worked as a clerk and interviewing officer for the Public Defender's Office.


Business career


Real estate

During the early to mid-1980s Palmer was a real estate agent. He did well from the property boom on the Gold Coast, and "retired" at the age of 29.


Mineralogy

In 1985 and 1986 Palmer founded three companies which undertook mining exploration in Western Australia (WA). These included
Mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...
, a company which in 2006 had of iron ore reserves in the Pilbara Ranges, in remote northern
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...
. In 2008, Palmer bought Waratah Coal. Palmer transferred Mineralogy to New Zealand in December 2018, and moved it again to Singapore in January 2019. Mineralogy has been involved in a long-running dispute with CITIC over a royalty payment. Mineralogy and CITIC entered into an agreement in 2006 to develop some of the iron ore reserves Palmer owns. In November 2017, Justice
Kenneth Martin Kenneth or Ken Martin may refer to: * Kenneth Martin (English painter), English painter and sculptor * Ken Martin (Australian sculptor) * Kenneth Martin (judge), Australian judge * Kenneth Martin (cricketer), New Zealand cricketer * Ken Martin (a ...
of the
Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750,0 ...
awarded Mineralogy nearly $200 million. Palmer said the decision was "a win for Australian law over Chinese Communist government powerhouses". As of May 2019, CITIC was suing Palmer and he had counter-sued them for $5 billion. In August 2020, the WA Parliament passed an emergency bill to block a legal claim against the government by Palmer, relating to Mineralogy. WA Attorney-General John Quigley estimated the claim as totalling $30 billion, which he described as "rapacious" and equivalent to the annual budget of WA. Palmer denied that estimate and mounted a challenge in the Federal Court to the legislation as unconstitutional.


Queensland Nickel

In 2009, he bought Queensland Nickel and the
Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery Yabulu is a town and coastal suburb in the City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. In the , Yabulu had a population of 697 people. Geography Yabulu is approximately north of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The Bruce Highway passes thr ...
after BHP was going to close the refinery. In the first year after purchasing the refinery, Palmer gifted staff 50 Mercedes Benz cars and thousands of overseas holidays after the refinery turned a huge profit. On 18 January 2016, Queensland Nickel entered
voluntary administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry ...
. Palmer declined to pay the entitlements of workers who lost their jobs when Queensland Nickel closed, stating that "I have no personal responsibility, I retired from business over three years ago". He also blamed the administrators for sacking the workforce. This forced the Federal Government to cover the workers' entitlements. In April 2019 Palmer announced that he intended to re-open the Queensland Nickel refinery and pay the $7.16 million still owed to workers following the 2019 federal election. The Special Purpose Liquidator of Queensland Nickel stated that Palmer's offer was inadequate as it did not cover the money owed to small businesses and was unclear whether he would repay the Federal Government. The Liquidator was seeking $200 million from Palmer, other individuals and related entities, with a trial to take place from July 2019. The Australian Government was also seeking to recover $70 million from Palmer personally to meet the costs of the payments it made to Queensland Nickel workers through the same trial. Palmer stated in April 2019 that the administrators should repay the government as they were responsible for sacking the refinery's workers, and not him. ''The Canberra Times'' reported that 218 workers were made redundant shortly before the operation was placed into voluntary administration. In August 2019 Palmer reached a settlement two weeks into a trial in the Queensland Supreme Court, understood to total $110m. He agreed to repay the federal government for the entitlements it has already paid under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG), “all other outstanding employee entitlements, and a full recovery for the majority of unsecured creditors”. Palmer maintained his position that the scheme should never have been triggered by the liquidators in the first place and under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Special Purpose Liquidator withdrew all claims the SPL made against Palmer and all of the defendants associated with him. All parties paid their own costs in the court matter; Palmer personally appeared in court and represented himself. A small number of debt claims against Mineralogy remain in dispute and before the courts. Palmer claimed that the settlement of the debts had left him “vindicated”. “Today’s settlement confirms the actions against me were nothing more than a witch-hunt designed to smear my good reputation”, Palmer said.


Palmer Coolum Resort: Dinosaur Park

Palmer purchased the Coolum Hyatt Resort in 2011. He later announced plans to build a park featuring
animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy ...
dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23  million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
there. Palmer ordered more than 160 animatronic dinosaurs, which included an initial shipment of a tall, long ''T. rex'', nicknamed "Jeff". Palmer received full council approval for the park on 25 July 2013, and it was expected to open to the public in 2014. On 14 December 2013, the dinosaur park, now called "Palmersaurus", was opened to the public. Palmer's installation of dinosaurs along the side of the resort's golf course led the Australian PGA Championship to be relocated from it. The Palmer Coolum Resort was mothballed in 2015 due to low occupancy rates, with 600 people losing their jobs over the period after Palmer purchased the complex. In 2017, the ABC reported that "once regarded as one of south-east Queensland's most prestigious resorts, the site is a shadow of its former self and has been the centre of a legal battle between retirees who own villa shares and Clive Palmer". In 2018 the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...
charged Palmer with violations of the Corporation Act in relation to an attempt to take over timeshare villas at the resort in 2012. Palmer has stated that the charges are an attempt to stop him standing for election.


Soccer

Palmer purchased the Gold Coast United football club in 2008. In October 2009, he made a decision to cap attendances of Gold Coast United home games at Skilled Park stadium to 5,000, in a bid to save money by avoiding transport subsidies on crowds over 5,000. After a widespread backlash and only 2,616 fans attending the next home game, and the intervention of
Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only estab ...
(FFA), the idea was scrapped. On 29 February 2012, Ben Buckley and Frank Lowy announced that Palmer's licence for Gold Coast United FC was to be revoked for constant breaches of FFA rules and regulations and sought to pay out the contracts of the players for the remaining month of the season. Lowy stated that he acted to protect the integrity of the sport. However, Palmer stipulated that he would contest the decisions through legal action and claimed Lowy was a dictator. Despite a ruling ordering the removal of "Freedom of Speech" logos on team shirts, Palmer indicated they would remain. On 2 March 2012, Palmer lost his
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
bid against Gold Coast United's expulsion from the
A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...
. In 2012, after the FFA revoked his Gold Coast United A-League licence, Palmer founded Football Australia – a competing organisation for the sport of football in Australia.


''Titanic II''

In February 2013, at a press conference in New York, Palmer announced plans to build a modern-day replica of the liner . It was planned that '' Titanic II'' would be built in China and make its maiden voyage from
Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...
to New York City in 2016 (later postponed to 2018). Palmer hoped to recreate the ''Titanic'' as closely as possible to its familiar external and internal appearance. According to Palmer, the ''Titanic II'' would be long, weigh gross, and carry 2,435 passengers and 900 crew. Palmer said the ''Titanic II'' would honour the memories of those who died and survived on the ''Titanic''. The ''Titanic'' was operated by the
White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between ...
and Palmer's company is named Blue Star Line. During the first half of 2015, evidence accumulated strongly suggesting that the project had been abandoned. The Blue Star Line trademark was listed as "abandoned". No construction had been ordered in the Chinese shipyard identified as the likely building site with the workers highly skeptical that the project would ever move beyond the proposal stage. In May 2016 it was reported by the administrators for an insolvent Palmer company, Queensland Nickel, that no significant money had been spent on the development of ''Titanic II'' in over two years. On 27 September 2018, in a press release on its official web site, the Blue Star Line announced that work on the project would recommence, but there has been no confirmation of that since. Despite the media release, the web site had not been updated since May 2014.


COVID-19 pandemic


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In March 2020, as the 
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
was spreading in Australia, Palmer placed a prominent media advertisement offering to personally fund one million doses of a "cure" for the disease. The medication would include hydroxychloroquine, which is established in other countries as an anti-malarial drug but is known to have serious side-effects. The Australian drugs regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), had warned that this drug and its derivatives “pose well-known serious risks to patients including cardiac toxicity potentially leading to sudden heart attacks, irreversible eye damage and severe depletion of blood sugar potentially leading to coma”. The TGA stated that it was considering legal action against Palmer. Other experts also criticised Palmer, concerning safety as well as the ethics of potentially producing a shortage of the drug in countries where it is needed to combat malaria. However, it was later confirmed that the federal health department planned to import hydroxychloroquine for emergency use, with a written agreement for partial funding by Palmer. On 28 April, Palmer placed further prominent advertisements in News Corp media, claiming to have purchased 32.9 million doses of hydroxychloroquine. The TGA stated that no action would be taken with respect to either set of advertisements, since they were "assessed as not intended to promote the sale of the product”. However, the President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Harry Nespolon, warned that trials of the drug were still ongoing and were "not looking particularly promising”. He was also concerned that "people may think that a cure is imminent and be lulled into a false sense of security so that they don’t exercise social distancing responsibilities”. In June 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued, a Queensland radio network stopped playing an advertisement from Palmer that had stated: :Australia has had one COVID-19 associated death in 2021. But the TGA reports that there’s been 210 deaths and over 24,000 adverse reactions after COVID vaccinations. Authorised by Clive Palmer, Brisbane. The TGA had warned the network and Palmer that this was seriously misleading to the public: the figure of 210 deaths a few days or weeks after vaccination was statistically normal; only one of those deaths could be linked to the vaccination itself. The same month, it was reported that Palmer had sent letters to households across Australia urging against vaccination for COVID-19, based on the discredited death figures. This was reported again in July, and that Palmer had disregarded a further warning from the TGA. Palmer had requested that his name and logo be printed on the doses of donated hydroxychloroquine. The Department of Health denied Palmer's request.


WA border closure

In July 2020, Palmer claimed that the closing of the borders by the Western Australian government owing to the COVID-19 pandemic was
unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
and challenged the WA legislation in the Federal Court. In response the Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan labelled Palmer an enemy of the state. Palmer also claimed that the border closure would "destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for decades" and compared the death toll of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...
with that of road accidents and
influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...
. By August, the Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison withdrew support of Palmer's legal challenge after receiving a public backlash on his previous supportive stance. Mark McGowan praised the Commonwealth for its withdrawal and indicated the Western Australian government would continue to fight the case and urging Palmer to withdraw the case labelling him "Australia's greatest egomaniac" and an "Olympic scale narcissist". As the issues moved to the constitutional level, they came to involve possible conflict between major constitutional principles:
parliamentary sovereignty Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over al ...
and the rule of law. On 6 November 2020, the High Court upheld the legislation. Challenges to the constitutionality of amendments to the Act made in 2020 failed in the High Court on 13 October 2021. In this context, Palmer sued McGowan for defamation and McGowan counter-sued Palmer for defamation. The Federal Court found on 2 August 2022 that each had defamed the other, awarded each a relatively small amount in damages and warned that such a dispute between prominent political figures should never have wasted the court's time and resources.


Palmer Group share selloff

In August 2021, Australian airline
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the List of airlines by foundation date, world's third-oldest airline sti ...
announced that it would require all of its 22,000 employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. In reaction to this, the Palmer Group sold off its entire stake in Qantas.


Other activities

In June 2002, Palmer was appointed
adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the gener ...
of business at
Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn P ...
's Faculty of Business and Law, a role he held until 2006. During that time, he delivered a series of lectures as part of Deakin's MBA residential programs. In 2008, Palmer was appointed adjunct professor of management at
Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its founding on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teaching-focused higher e ...
on the Gold Coast. In December 2012, Palmer was appointed joint secretary general of the World Leadership Alliance, a new democracy-promoting council that included former US president
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...
and
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
's opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanm ...
. Palmer was named president of the alliance's business chapter, the World Economic Council. In December 2012, on Christmas Day, Palmer hosted a buffet lunch for 650 disadvantaged people, mostly children and their families. In July 2013, Palmer was referred to in an iPhone application as making light of Australian Prime Minister
Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...
by having sandwiches thrown at her. News Corp Australia publications were critical of the app, calling it sexist, while referring to his weight in an opinion poll with an option saying "We should have one for big Clive Palmer". On 4 March 2012, Palmer was named, amid controversy, as a National Living Treasure by the New South Wales Branch of the National Trust of Australia. In 2015, Palmer donated a house, car and food to victims of a house fire in Beenleigh that saw their son tragically lose his life. Palmer has been a regular poster of memes on his official
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...
page. The memes often have nonsensical or ironic undertones, and contain reoccurring themes – such as
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
's control of the media in Australia, contrasting himself with other political figures such as
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull gra ...
, or paying homage to Tim Tam packets and his pet "Grog Dog". Palmer was once required to provide an affidavit explaining a tweet sent out during a hearing on 1 December 2017. In September 2019, Palmer threatened to sue internet comedian
Jordan Shanks Jordan Shanks-Markovina (born 18 August 1989), known online as Friendlyjordies, is an Australian political commentator, journalist, stand-up comedian and YouTuber. His content often discusses contemporary Australian political issues, involvin ...
for $500,000 for
defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...
relating to a
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
video posted before the May 2019 election. The video created by Shanks called Palmer a "dense Humpty Dumpty" and a profane nickname that stated Palmer was a 'Fatty McF*ckhead'. Shanks responded that he had not defamed Palmer and being required to prove his claims in court would not help Palmer.


Politics

Palmer was active in the Liberal Movement headed by former Premier of South Australia Steele Hall in the 1970s. He joined the Queensland division of the Nationals in 1974, having been influenced by the policies of
Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...
,
Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...
at the time. From the early 1980s, he was involved in state politics, serving as the National Party's campaign director during the 1983 state election and as media spokesman during its 1986 election campaign, both of which were successful. Palmer was a backer of the aborted " Joh for Canberra" campaign, which attempted to get Queensland Premier Bjelke-Petersen elected as Prime Minister of Australia at the 1987 federal election. Palmer was elected to life membership of the party in 1992, which he retained after the state branches of the Nationals and Liberal Party merged to form the
Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. At a federal level and in most other ...
in 2008. In late April 2012, Palmer announced that he would contest Liberal National Party
preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...
for the Division of Lilley at the 2013 federal election, held by Wayne Swan, the then Deputy Prime Minister and
Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...
. However, in July that year, he announced his intention to seek preselection for a different seat, including possibly the Division of Kennedy, held by
Bob Katter Robert Bellarmine Carl Katter (born 22 May 1945) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1993. He was previously active in Queensland state politics from 1974 to 1992. Katter was a member of the ...
of
Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian political party in Australia. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral ...
(formerly sitting as a National and an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
). Several months after announcing his intent to seek preselection, Palmer resigned his life membership of the Liberal National Party. His membership of the party had been suspended on 9 November 2012, following his comments on the actions of state government ministers. He was re-instated to the party on 22 November, but resigned the same day. In March 2012, Palmer accused Drew Hutton and
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth ...
of receiving funding from the CIA, due to Hutton's involvement in the preparation of a Greenpeace strategy titled "Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom". His claims were dismissed by Greenpeace senior campaigner John Hepburn as "ludicrous", and he said that Greenpeace would not accept money from any government, corporation or secret service. His claims were also rejected by the CIA. On 25 April 2013, Palmer announced a "reformation" of the United Australia Party, which had been folded into the present-day Liberal Party in 1945, to stand candidates in the 2013 federal election, and had applied for its registration in Queensland. Another representative of a former South Australian political party, The United Party, lodged a formal objection to the registration of the name "Palmer United Party" with the
Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
(AEC). The AEC further determined that the names "
Uniting Australia Party The Uniting Australia Party was a minor Australian political party that ran candidates in the 2013 federal election. During the campaign it attracted attention for thwarting Clive Palmer's attempts to name his party the "United Australia Party" ...
" and "Palmer United Party" were distinct and the name "Palmer United Party" was not prohibited.


Member of Parliament

Palmer ran as the candidate in the
Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...
seat of
Fairfax Fairfax may refer to: Places United States * Fairfax, California * Fairfax Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California * Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California, centered on Fairfax Avenue * Fairfax, Georgia * Fairfax, Indiana * Fa ...
for his party in the
2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of ...
. In the first count he won by only 7 votes over Liberal National Party (LNP) candidate Ted O'Brien, triggering an automatic recount. While he had won only 26.5 percent of the primary vote, Palmer overtook O'Brien on Labor and Green preferences. During the recount, he filed many challenges to votes cast for O'Brien, and made unsupported claims that the
Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
was tainted by corruption. Ultimately, he was confirmed as winner with 50.3% of the vote – a margin of 53 votes. His party was also successful in the Senate in 2013, where three of his party members were elected and won a shared balance of power. The senators were elected in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. But soon the party fell into disarray. The Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie resigned from the Palmer United Party on 24 November 2014 announcing that she would remain in the Senate as an independent. Lambie's resignation followed several weeks of disagreements with Palmer. The Queensland Senator Glenn Lazarus also quit the party on 13 March 2015 citing issues with Palmer. In his maiden speech to federal parliament, Palmer implied that the government was "deaf to the everyday struggles of all Australians" and stated that "the entrenchment of the two-party system in this country not only threatens democracy but destroys the creativity of the nation." Palmer was absent from Parliament more than any other MP in the 44th Parliament; he attended only 64 percent of sitting days in 2014 and 54 percent in 2015. He was rarely seen in his own electorate, preferring to reside at his Gold Coast residence. At one point, he went seven months without setting foot in Fairfax. His LNP opponent in 2013, O'Brien, claimed that many residents had come to him for help after not being able to get help from Palmer, to the point that many of them considered him their MP. In May 2016, Palmer announced he would not seek reelection to his seat of Fairfax or run for the Senate and retire from politics. This all but assured that Fairfax would revert to the LNP; like most Sunshine Coast seats, it would have been a comfortably safe LNP seat in a traditional two-party matchup. O'Brien then reclaimed the seat for the LNP.


Subsequent political activities

Palmer deregistered the party's state branches in September 2016, initially intending to keep it active at the federal level. However, in April 2017, he announced that the party would be wound up. In February 2018, Palmer announced his intention to resurrect his party and return to federal politics. The party was revived in June under its original name, the United Australia Party. Even when using the name Palmer United, the party continued to brand itself as a revival of the original UAP, claiming the three leaders of the original UAP – Joseph Lyons,
Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
and
Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country Military history of Austra ...
– as its former leaders. Former One Nation senator Brian Burston joined the United Australia Party in June 2018. In April 2019, Palmer stated that he would stand for the Senate in Queensland in the
2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolut ...
. Palmer spent $60 million at the 2019 election, with most of the advertising consisting of attacks on the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...
(ALP). He and his party did not win any seats in the election. During the campaign for the 2020 Queensland state election, at which the United Australia Party endorsed 55 candidates, Palmer is estimated to have spent about $8 million in advertising. As in the 2019 federal election, the advertising mainly attacked the ALP, particularly alleging that Labor planned to impose a 20 per cent "death tax" to pay for its election promises, a claim that was dismissed by the ALP as a lie. No UAP candidates were elected. Ahead of the 2019 election, Palmer altered the lyrics of the Twisted Sister song " We're Not Gonna Take It" to "Australia ain't gonna cop it" in a national TV campaign for United Australia Party. Twisted Sister condemned the unauthorised use of the song. Palmer disputed Twisted Sister's claim that they held any copyright over the portion of the song used in the advertisements, as he composed the lyrics and the melody was derived from " O Come, All Ye Faithful". In April 2021, Palmer was ordered by the
Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...
to pay $1.5 million dollars in damages for
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...
. Palmer was also ordered to pay legal costs and to remove all copies of the song and accompanying videos from the internet. In 2021, Palmer welcomed Liberal Party defector Craig Kelly, an outspoken critic of climate and vaccine-based scientific findings, to his party. Like Kelly, Palmer has been frequently criticised for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and in particular the effectiveness of vaccines. In December 2021, Palmer was rated Australia's "least likeable politician" in a Resolve Political Monitor survey that showed that only 8% of surveyed Australians had a positive view of him.


Financial problems

In March 2020, Palmer appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court to answer four charges of fraud and other dishonesty, brought by the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...
(ASIC). The charges alleged improper transfers of money totalling several million dollars shortly before the 2013 general election, as fraud and dishonest use of Palmer's position as a company director (of Mineralogy) regarding funding of the Palmer United Party. Palmer denied that the charges relate to the collapse of Queensland Nickel, commenting: "It's just a fabricated charge which will be dismissed pretty easily which is what we do with ASIC charges which are political in nature." The case was adjourned until 28 August, with Palmer still claiming that the charges were "nonsense". Each offence carries a potential prison sentence of up to five years and, for the fraud charges, up to 12 years.


Personal life

Palmer lives in a gated mansion on Sovereign Islands, an exclusive community on the Gold Coast. News Limited reports that property records reveal "Mr Palmer, his family and associates own a total of 11 homes in the Sovereign Islands, a gated enclave developed on reclaimed land on the banks of the Southport Broadwater." Palmer also owns homes at
Broadbeach Waters Broadbeach Waters is a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Broadbeach Waters had a population of 7,779 people. Geography The northern boundary of Broadbeach Waters follows the Nerang River. The suburb is almost ...
on the Gold Coast,
Fig Tree Pocket Fig Tree Pocket is a riverside western suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Fig Tree Pocket had a population of 4,045 people. Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is the oldest and largest koala sanctuary in the world. It is a t ...
in Brisbane and in
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. ...
in
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...
. Other holdings include properties in Brisbane, Jandowae on the
Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...
, Queensland, Port Douglas in Queensland and
Bora Bora Bora Bora (French: ''Bora-Bora''; Tahitian: ''Pora Pora'') is an island group in the Leeward Islands. The Leeward Islands comprise the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, which is an overseas collectivity of the Frenc ...
,
French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of French ...
. In addition, his wife owns an undisclosed number of properties held in trust. He was reported to have spent more than during 2018–19 on luxury homes on the Gold Coast and in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
and
Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...
. As of August 2020, he reportedly owns three adjoining houses in Fig Tree Pocket, costing $17.5m and on more than four hectares of land fronting the Brisbane River. Palmer was married to his first wife for 22 years. He has two adult children: a son, Michael and a daughter, Emily. His first wife, Susan Palmer, died from cancer in 2006. In 2007, he married Anna, and they have two daughters, Mary and Lucy. Palmer is a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
and was a prominent member of
Right to Life Australia Right to Life Australia is an organisation which advocates consistent life ethic positions in issues such as abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Margaret Tighe is the President of Right to Life Australia and Dr Toni Turnbull is Vice Pr ...
while at university, organising pro-life rallies on campus. While watching a soccer game in October 2009, Palmer was thought to have suffered a heart attack, and was taken to hospital. However, doctors dismissed it as merely a heart palpitation. Palmer has also suffered from sleep apnoea. On 27 February 2022 Palmer tested positive for COVID-19 and was diagnosed with
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
. On 28 February 2022 it was reported that Palmer had purchased
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's Mercedes-Benz 770, and a Rolls-Royce once owned by King Edward VIII, to become part of a collection for a planned vintage car museum in Queensland.


Net worth

In 2016, the ''BRW'' Rich 200 estimated Palmer's net worth at 600 million, by 2019 his estimated net worth had increased to 4.09  billion and in 2021 was assessed as 13.01 billion according to ''
Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New S ...
'' 2021 Rich List. Up until 2013, the ''Forbes'' list included Australia's 40 richest people; it then expanded to 50 people.


Friendlyjordies and defamation case

In 2019, YouTuber Friendlyjordies published a video satirising Palmer, who began an action for defamation but later withdrew it.


See also

*
Mineralogy (mining company) Mineralogy is a mining company owned by Clive Palmer of Queensland, Australia. Mineralogy's mining projects are now producing and generating income. Mineralogy signed a deal with the Chinese infrastructure company CITIC Pacific to develop a smal ...
*
Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery Yabulu is a town and coastal suburb in the City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. In the , Yabulu had a population of 697 people. Geography Yabulu is approximately north of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The Bruce Highway passes thr ...
* Palmer United Party * Queensland Nickel * '' Titanic II'' * United Australia Party


References


External links


United Australia Party websiteMemo of understanding between the Palmer and Motoring parties
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Clive 1954 births Australian billionaires Australian Roman Catholics Australian soccer chairmen and investors Businesspeople from Melbourne Gold Coast United FC Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Fairfax United Australia Party (2013) members of the Parliament of Australia People educated at Toowoomba Grammar School Politicians from Melbourne Australian mining entrepreneurs Political party founders People from the Gold Coast, Queensland 21st-century Australian politicians United Australia Party (2013) politicians Australian anti-vaccination activists People from Williamstown, Victoria