Mining magnate Clive Palmer planning to sue Australia for damages related to his iron ore mine in the Pilbara

Mining magnate Clive Palmer is now planning on suing Australia for damages related to his iron ore mine in the Pilbara — with the figure he is claiming believed to be even higher than the $32 billion he wanted to prise out of WA. In another shock legal manoeuvre, The West Australian can reveal that last week Mr Palmer sent a notice of intent to the Commonwealth government proposing international arbitration over the Balmoral South dispute. Mr Palmer’s Singapore-based company, Zeph Investments, said it intended to bring an investor-state claim under a Singapore free trade agreement. And contained in that notice was a dollar figure Mr Palmer says he is entitled to — a figure it is understood far exceeds the $32 billion he claimed against WA two years ago. Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus confirmed the Commonwealth had already set their lawyers onto the case and that they would be fighting Mr Palmer’s claim “vigorously”. “On 20 October, a company controlled by Clive Palmer notified the Commonwealth of its intention to bring a claim for compensation from the Australian Government under an international free trade agreement,” Mr Dreyfus told The West Australian. “Mr Palmer likes to use expensive lawsuits to get his own way. “At the height of the pandemic, with the support of the former Liberal Government, he tried to tear down public health measures that were keeping Western Australians safe. “It’s not enough for Mr Palmer to try to attack elected governments in Australian courts, now he wants to ask an international tribunal for an undeserved compensation payout from Australian taxpayers for laws passed by the WA Parliament. “Enough taxpayer money has been wasted by Mr Palmer’s selfish litigation. If Mr Palmer does bring the international lawsuit he’s threatened, this Australian Government will vigorously defend it.” A seemingly innocuous line item in Tuesday’s Federal Budget had hinted at Mr Palmer’s bid to take on the Commonwealth. It revealed that the “Commonwealth has received requests for consultation in relation to a dispute pertaining to the Iron Ore Processing (Mineralogy Pty Ltd) Agreement Amendment Act 2020 (WA).” “These consultations are a pre-condition to the formal commencement of investor-State dispute settlement proceedings. If proceedings are commenced and Australia is unsuccessful, Australia would be liable for any compensation found to be payable to the claimant,” the Budget paper said. “Any such potential liability cannot be quantified at this stage.” Mr Palmer has 90 days to follow through on his threat to lodge the claim. Premier Mark McGowan said WA “will never give in to Clive Palmer and his endless legal claims”. “Time after time, Clive Palmer has gone after Western Australia and Western Australians in the courts. Now he’s going after us again legally, along with the rest of the nation,” Mr McGowan said. “We will never stop defending the State. While we would prefer not to spend time in court, we will never stop defending the interests of Western Australians, who are fed up with being the targets of Clive Palmer’s never-ending legal actions.” WA Attorney-General John Quigley said he was “shocked” by Mr Palmer’s international arbitral claim — especially as nothing had changed since the High Court found a year ago that the Mineralogy Amendment Act was constitutional. “As well, where is the international aspect? Mr Palmer owns all of these companies and he lives in Queensland. It is interesting that one of the companies which he now owns is making a claim in an international arbitration pursuant to a free trade agreement,” Mr Quigley said. “The Commonwealth has referred to a prospective investor-state claim against Australia in this year’s budget, in the Statement of Risks. It says it is an unquantifiable risk. “If this is the claim made by Mr Palmer or one of his companies, the Commonwealth must regard it as sufficiently serious that it is obliged to specifically list it as a risk to its budget. “Mr Palmer’s last arbitration claim against WA was for $30 billion and I suggest that you ask Mr Palmer whether his present claim is for damages and how much any damages may be. “WA is fully cooperating with the Commonwealth in resisting the claim. I hope that you can appreciate that as WA is not a direct party to the arbitration, I am unable to release more information at this stage.” The West Australian did approach Mr Palmer for comment, and asked him about the amount being claimed. He did not respond to those inquiries. The revelation about the proposed international arbitration was contained in Mr Palmer’s latest legal filing in the Federal Court. The new lawsuit saw Mr Palmer triple down on his legal war with the WA Government, framing another attempt to smash up the unprecedented law which torpedoed the mining magnate’s $30 billion damage claim against . In it, he claims that various provisions within the Iron Ore Processing (Mineralogy Pty Ltd) Agreement Amendment Act 2020 (WA) should be declared “invalid or inoperative”. And he also says the WA legislation will prevent him from going ahead with the proposed international arbitration — and so should be declared invalid. “The Western Australian Parliament cannot legislate in a way that substantially curtails or interferes with the Commonwealth’s prerogative power to negotiate, enter into or perform international agreements,” Mr Palmer’s lawyers said. The one-time Queensland senator has already taken one legal challenge to the so-called “Anti-Palmer” bill all the way to the High Court — and lost. This latest legal sortie seeks to have separate sections of the act thrown out – partly because it was to punish him personally. “The provisions exceed the legislative power of Western Australia by purporting to permit a body other than a Court … to exercise the judicial power of the Commonwealth, or to punish a person,” the lawsuit states. No date has been set for the first hearing before a Federal Court judge of the latest lawsuit. But when it arrives, Mr Palmer and his lawyers should have no trouble finding their way to the courthouse in Sydney. That is the same jurisdiction where the bitter defamation battle played out earlier this year. Mr Palmer came out on the wrong side of the personal stoush with the Premier, even though the Federal Court ruled both men had defamed each other. He was ordered to pay a hefty portion of Mr McGowan’s legal costs, after it was revealed he snubbed an offer to end the legal feud before it went to trial.