Mark McGowan Clive Palmer

Jonh Quigley has taken the stand on day two of the Clive Palmer defamation trial, where the Attorney-General's texts to Mark McGowan have been revealed ...

It was part of a response to the extraordinary advertising that he had been engaging in. So I’m very hopeful that by the end of March, we’ll be out of these restrictions.” “I considered it was satirical ... and he wasn’t coming here because he refused to put in a G2G application.” “There was hostility in the community, but I saw it as a result of his own behaviour. “What I find with the Attorney General is that he is very determined to achieve outcomes. He says his side want an unredacted copy of the email. “I thought Mr Palmer might initiate some sort of litigation to restrain the executive.” “On my oath, I am telling the court the truth,” he says. “You did not mean just an opponent in a court case do you. Was that behaviour honest and in accordance with the highest ethical standards? “No-one has ever taken arbitration over a state agreement in 80 years. But he knew what the government’s position was.

As the state government passed contentious anti-Clive Palmer legislation its Premier was texting the mogul to praise and thank him for anti-Palmer front ...

Mr Palmer claims the state breached a state agreement inked in 2002 by refusing to assess the mine and entered into a lengthy arbitration process with the government. Mr Palmer’s barrister Peter Gray SC read a series of exchanges between the premier and the mogul. Mr McGowan denied those descriptions. The texts reveal the Premier gave Mr Stokes a heads-up that Labor was introducing extraordinary legislation to block Mr Palmer’s compensation claim over a stalled Pilbara iron ore project. After Mr Houston left Mr McGowan’s office he took on a job at Mr Stokes’ private company Australian Capital Equity. This commentary, the premier wrote, “makes me sick”. Mr Palmer claims the Premier painted him as an enemy of the people. “Mark, well done,” Mr Stokes texted. Mr McGowan described Mr Palmer in texts as a “big fat liar” and “the worst Australian who is not in jail”. In court, Mr McGowan admitted such names were nasty but were simply a bit of humour privately used between colleagues. Mr McGowan has counter-sued claiming Mr Palmer had depicted him as a criminal in interviews and advertisements. Other texts from the Premier were read aloud to the court, including discussions between Mr McGowan and WA Attorney-General John Quigley in the lead up to the Palmer legislation where they called the billionaire “Big Fat Liar” and “turd”. Texts revealed in the Federal Court case also show “banter” in text messages between Mr McGowan and his Attorney-General in which they describe Mr Palmer as a “big fat liar,” a “turd” and “the fat man”.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has been grilled over his harsh words in private text messages about Clive Palmer.

Referring to the fictional character James Bond and his “licence to kill”, Mr Palmer told the court: “I didn’t know what the limits might be.” At one point, Mr McGowan wrote in reference to Mr Palmer: “He’s the worst Australian who’s not in jail.” In his evidence last month, Mr Palmer said he was scared because provisions in the Balmoral South legislation protected the government from criminal prosecution. The McGowan government introduced extraordinary legislation in August 2020 to prevent Mr Palmer from suing the state. Mr Palmer is suing Mr McGowan for defamation, claiming public comments - including labelling the Queensland businessman the “enemy of the state” - had damaged his reputation. The premier has lodged a counter-claim that he was defamed in several of Mr Palmer’s interviews and statements.