{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F04b1c60a-7cd2-4215-bc05-c81cdd0d307f","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Episode 267 \u2013 Clive Palmer, QAnon and The Commons","description":"
\nIn this episode we discuss Clive Palmer, QAnon and The Commons.
\nClive Palmer and WA
\nWhat is going on?
\nFrom Crikey
\nWill WA\u2019s extraordinary measures against Clive Palmer pay off?
\nWestern Australia has used its legislative power to get itself out of a very bad bargain. But what has been lost in the process?
\nAmong Clive Palmer\u2019s gifts to Australia \u2014 which include, arguably, the\u00a0Morrison government\u00a0\u2014 is a lot of interesting law.
\nPalmer\u2019s\u00a0constitutional challenge\u00a0to Western Australia\u2019s border closure is significant enough, but it\u2019s dwarfed by the wow factor of the law he recently provoked the WA Parliament into passing.
\nJust before midnight last Thursday the WA governor signed off on an\u00a0emergency bill\u00a0designed to block a damages claim from the mining magnate. It had been a race with Palmer\u2019s lawyers, and the WA government believed it had won. But the issue is far from over.
\nPalmer is now claiming the law is unconstitutional, and he\u2019ll no doubt be asking the High Court to agree.\u00a0After all, there\u2019s supposedly $30 billion on the line\u2026
\nWhat is this all about?
\nThe story starts in 2002, when the government of then-premier Geoff Gallop created the\u00a0Iron Ore Processing (Mineralogy Pty Ltd) Agreement Act.
\nThis act gave legal force to a \u201cstate agreement\u201d made between the government and Palmer\u2019s company Mineralogy, under which WA promised to help Palmer exploit his iron ore mining tenements in the Pilbara.\u00a0Such agreements had become standard in the state as a means of encouraging the big mining companies to come in and dig deep into WA\u2019s incalculable mineral wealth.
\nThe agreement was extraordinary in its generosity. The basic scheme was that Palmer would come up with proposals for mining projects on the land (including transport, ports and shipping), and the minister was obliged to either approve these proposals or give his approval subject to conditions which had to be \u201creasonable\u201d.\u00a0
\nClive Palmer still set to face the music (and other news you may have missed)
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\nCritically, if he took the second course Palmer could then invoke his right to have the minister\u2019s conditions reconsidered in a compulsory arbitration. The arbitrator\u2019s decision on their reasonableness would be binding. (Arbitration is a dispute resolution process conducted privately, outside the court system.\u00a0It\u2019s supposed to be simpler, faster and cheaper than litigation, but it removes many of the options parties would have if they went to court.)
\nIn 2012 and 2014, then-premier Colin Barnett refused to approve proposals put up by Palmer for his Balmoral South tenements, and an arbitration commenced with former High Court judge Michael McHugh as arbitrator.\u00a0
\nThat proceeded in secret, but McHugh has\u00a0reportedly\u00a0made decisions in Palmer\u2019s favour. My guess is that he\u2019s determined that Barnett\u2019s refusals were unreasonable and that approval should have been given back in 2014.\u00a0
\nPalmer claims he would have been operational and earning revenue by 2016.\u00a0The next step would be to determine how much WA owes Palmer for its breach of the agreement.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/085762e2-797c-4ef4-9b10-434ecde61c07/logo2018v2.jpg"}