Campbell Newman and Jarrod Bleijie should give a shout out to Hedley Thomas on this. #auspol #BSWNBPM #LNP #PUP -CLIVE Palmer wants a penetrating public inquiry in Queensland. He wants to expose dishonesty and corruption. Shameless standover tactics by big business bullying a government must be highlighted. He promises to root out this wickedness and more. Let’s give the tycoon what he wants. A public inquiry is a brilliant idea. But it must examine the allegedly fraudulent, often unhinged, economically destructive, environmentally reckless and usually embarrassing conduct of Clive Frederick Palmer, businessman, serial litigant and leader of the Palmer United Party. A fearlessly independent Palmer inquiry, run under Queensland legislation with its wide powers to compel witnesses, discover documents and indemnify whistleblowers, would represent money well spent. It might salvage something from Palmer’s wreckage. Unlike the cartoonish Senate probe, in which obedient PUP senator Glenn Lazarus pockets a salary boost to traipse across the state with Labor and the Greens to damage Premier Campbell Newman, an inquiry into Palmer is completely justifiable. The taxpayers who fund the salaries, perks and related costs of the PUP circus deserve nothing less than a forensic investigation to unlock the secret to Palmer’s political rise. Because as evidence in the Supreme Court in Brisbane indicates, Palmer, a member of the House of Representatives, as well as Zhenya Wang, Jacqui Lambie and Lazarus in the Senate won their political stripes after China’s money — millions of dollars — were allegedly taken from a bank account to fund PUP’s extravagant election campaign. Two cheques (one of $10m and the other $2.167m) signed by Palmer in August and early September last year saw those funds, which had been deposited by China’s state-owned company, siphoned from an account called “Port Palmer Operations”, and spent on everything but the operations of a port in a remote part of Australia. Those are grounds straight away for a commission of inquiry, surely. A serving politician, the leader of a party controlling the balance of power in the Senate, no less, accused of misappropriating more than $12 million from Australia’s most important trading partner after it had spent $8 billion here on an iron ore project. Did he confuse “port” with “PUP”? When he drew the $2.167m cheque for Brisbane advertising agency Media Circus Network, then invoiced the Chinese for “port management services”, did he weigh the repercussions? We may find out if he is examined under oath in a Palmer inquiry. Forget about the old bottle of Grange Hermitage that cost Barry O’Farrell his gig as NSW premier. Put aside the aspirational generosity of property developers tipping cash into the pockets of O’Farrell’s Liberal Party colleagues. Never mind the home renovations that Julia Gillard’s builder, Athol James, testified were paid with cash from the former PM’s allegedly corrupt boyfriend, Bruce Wilson, who controlled a dodgy union slush fund. Craig Thomson’s “Turbo Room” hookers, Kathy Jackson’s junkets, even Michael Williamson’s holiday pad at the beach — it’s important stuff if that is the best we’ve got to investigate, but it pales in comparison with the richness of a Palmer brief of evidence. In terms of financial scale, public interest, international relations and bang-for-your-buck, it would be impossible to trump an investigation into Queensland’s tycoon. And after a retired judge running the Palmer inquiry has tracked the $12m money trail from Beijing to Canberra, the lawyers and sleuths can focus on other disturbing evidence. The dumping of toxic waste into wetlands on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park near Townsville because Palmer refused to contain it properly with tailings dams at his nickel refinery would need to be examined. Palmer’s demands of Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney for preferential treatment and approvals to enable development of Galilee Basin coal assets should not be overlooked. The use of lawyers and legal actions to gag or damage critics and former employees might also produce some zinger evidence. Memo to Newman and his Attorney-General, Jarrod Bleijie: if you need any help writing the terms of reference for the Palmer inquiry, yell out.- theaustralian.au/news/public-inquiry-into-clive-palmer-would-give-bang-for-our-buck/story-e6frg6n6-1227077034927
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 21:39:30 +0000
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