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Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian
businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...
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 ...
. He has iron ore,
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 rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
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, 3 ...
, the Palmer Coolum Resort on the Sunshine Coast, Palmer Sea Reef Golf Course at
Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the in ...
, Palmer Colonial Golf Course at Robina, and the Palmer Gold Coast Golf Course, also at Robina. He owned
Gold Coast United FC Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Un ...
from 2008 to 2012. Palmer created the
Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...
in April 2013, winning the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax 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 A ...
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 The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
, 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. 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 Hedley Thomas is an Australian investigative journalist and author, who has won seven Walkley Awards, two of which are Gold Walkleys. Personal life Thomas is married and lives in Brisbane. He has two children. In 2002 Thomas and his family we ...
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 Sou ...
'' assessed his net worth at 13.01 
billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i. ...
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 met ...
,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
. 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 Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
, where he attended Aquinas College and
Southport State High School Southport State High School is a secondary school situated in Southport on the Gold Coast, Queensland in Australia. Southport State High School was the first public high school on the Gold Coast, celebrating its 100th centenary in 2016. 'Resp ...
, although he also attended
Toowoomba Grammar School , motto_translation = Faithful in All Things , city = Toowoomba , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, day & boarding , denomination = Non-denominational , established = 18 ...
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 st ...
). 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 = B ...
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 Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
, 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, 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 th ...
. 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 CITIC Group Corporation Ltd., formerly the China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC), is a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China, established by Rong Yiren in 1979 with the approval of Deng Xiaoping ...
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 of the Supreme Court of Western Australia 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 Queensland Nickel is a company owned by businessman and former politician Clive Palmer. Queensland Nickel owns and operates the Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery at Yabulu in North Queensland, Australia. The refinery was established in July 1971 ...
and the Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery 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. 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 a ...
dinosaurs 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 The Australian PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is the home tournament of the Australian PGA. Since 2000 it has been held in the South East Queensland region. The tournament was part of the OneAsia Tour fro ...
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 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 Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...
football club in 2008. In October 2009, he made a decision to cap attendances of Gold Coast United home games at
Skilled Park A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of wo ...
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 establ ...
(FFA), the idea was scrapped. On 29 February 2012,
Ben Buckley Benjamin Buckley (born 29 June 1967) is an Australian businessman, former Australian Rules Footballer and current chairman of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. He is the former chief executive officer of Foo ...
and
Frank Lowy Sir Frank P. Lowy ( ; born 22 October 1930) is an Australian-Israeli businessman of Jewish Slovakian-Hungarian origins and the former long-time Chairman of Westfield Corporation, a global shopping centre company with billion of assets under ...
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 bid against Gold Coast United's expulsion from the A-League. In 2012, after the FFA revoked his Gold Coast United A-League licence, Palmer founded
Football 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 esta ...
– 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 A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...
. It was planned that ''
Titanic II ''Titanic II'' is a planned passenger ocean liner intended to be a functional modern-day replica of the ''Olympic''-class . The new ship is planned to have a gross tonnage (GT) of 56,000, while the original ship measured about 46,000 gross ...
'' would be built in China and make its maiden voyage from
Southampton Southampton () is a port 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 built-up area, which also covers Po ...
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 t ...
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 identi ...
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 Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil among others, is a medication used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to chloroquine. Other uses include treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, an ...
, 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 The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is the medicine and therapeutic regulatory agency of the Australian Government. As part of the Department of Health and Aged Care, the TGA regulates the quality, supply and advertising of medicines, p ...
(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 A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
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 Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party. McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...
labelled Palmer an
enemy of the state An enemy of the state is a person accused of certain crimes against the state such as treason, among other things. Describing individuals in this way is sometimes a manifestation of political repression. For example, a government may purport to m ...
. 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 quickly ...
with that of road accidents and influenza. By August, the Prime Minister of Australia
Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for th ...
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 Egomania is a psychiatric term used to describe excessive preoccupation with one's ego, identity or selfdictionary.com and applies the same preoccupation to anyone who follows one’s own ungoverned impulses, is possessed by delusions of personal ...
" and an "Olympic scale
narcissist Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...
". 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 all ...
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 world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...
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 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 Ponds, ...
'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 on the
Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
. 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 ( 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 agai ...
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 Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...
. 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 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 Mosk ...
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 i ...
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 grad ...
, or paying homage to
Tim Tam Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate biscuit introduced by the Australian biscuit company Arnott's in 1964. It consists of two malted biscuits separated by a light hard chocolate cream filling and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. H ...
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, involving ...
for $500,000 for defamation 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 mo ...
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 Raymond Steele Hall (born 30 November 1928) is a former Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. He also served in the federal Parliament as a senator for South Australia from 1974 to 1977 and ...
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 The Joh for Canberra campaign, initially known as the Joh for PM campaign, was an attempt by Queensland National Party of Australia, National Party premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen to become Prime Minister of Australia. The campaign was announced ...
" 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 The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
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 presele ...
for the
Division of Lilley The Division of Lilley is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. History The division was first proclaimed in 1913. The division is named after Sir Charles Lilley, a former Premier of Queensland and a former Chief Justice in the ...
at the 2013 federal election, held by
Wayne Swan Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954), often colloquially referred to as Swanny, is an Australian politician who is National President of the Labor Party. He was previously the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Deputy Leader of the Labor ...
, the then
Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...
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 ...
. However, in July that year, he announced his intention to seek preselection for a different seat, including possibly the
Division of Kennedy The Division of Kennedy is an Australian electoral division in the state of Queensland. History The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. It is named after ...
, 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 C ...
(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 * Independ ...
). 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 of receiving funding from the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, 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 The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
, 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" 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 seat of Fairfax 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 A ...
. 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 Jacquiline Louise Lambie (born 26 February 1971) is an Australian politician who is the leader and founder of the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN). She is a Senator for Tasmania since 2019, and was previously a Senator from 2014 to 2017. Lambie, an ...
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 Glenn Patrick Lazarus (born 11 December 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and a former Australian Senator. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , Lazarus won premie ...
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 The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
. 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 Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He began his career in the Australian Labor Party (ALP), ...
, Robert Menzies and Billy Hughes – 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 t ...
(ALP). He and his party did not win any seats in the election. During the campaign for the
2020 Queensland state election The 2020 Queensland state election was held on 31 October to elect all 93 members to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The Labor Party was returned to government for a third-term, led by incumbent premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. With 47 ...
, 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 Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and " I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with ...
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 "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (originally written in Latin as "") is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and a ...
". In April 2021, Palmer was ordered by the Federal Court of Australia 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, s ...
. 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 Craig Kelly (born 29 September 1963) is an Australian politician, who represented the Division of Hughes as a Liberal Party and later United Australia Party MP from 2010 to his defeat at the 2022 Australian federal election. Kelly initially ...
, 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 (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 on the Gold Coast, Fig Tree Pocket in Brisbane and in
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and 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. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
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 Macedo ...
. 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 general ...
, 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 French R ...
, French Polynesia. 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 Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
and in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
and
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
. 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 let ...
and was a prominent member of Right to Life Australia 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 Palpitations are perceived abnormalities of the heartbeat characterized by awareness of cardiac muscle contractions in the chest, which is further characterized by the hard, fast and/or irregular beatings of the heart. Symptoms include a rap ...
. Palmer has also suffered from
sleep apnoea Sleep apnea, also spelled sleep apnoea, is a sleep disorder in which pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep occur more often than normal. Each pause can last for a few seconds to a few minutes and they happen many tim ...
. 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 The Mercedes-Benz 770, also known as the ''Großer Mercedes'' (German for "Big Mercedes"), was a large luxury car built by Mercedes-Benz from 1930 until 1944. It is probably best known from its use by high-ranking Nazi German politicians and other ...
, and a Rolls-Royce once owned by
King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
, 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 Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i. ...
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 Sou ...
'' 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 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, involving ...
published a video satirising Palmer, who began an action for defamation but later withdrew it.


See also

* Mineralogy (mining company) * Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery *
Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...
*
Queensland Nickel Queensland Nickel is a company owned by businessman and former politician Clive Palmer. Queensland Nickel owns and operates the Palmer Nickel and Cobalt Refinery at Yabulu in North Queensland, Australia. The refinery was established in July 1971 ...
* ''
Titanic II ''Titanic II'' is a planned passenger ocean liner intended to be a functional modern-day replica of the ''Olympic''-class . The new ship is planned to have a gross tonnage (GT) of 56,000, while the original ship measured about 46,000 gross ...
'' *
United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...


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