Palmer calls in sick to expo
FAILED politician and comeback billionaire Clive Palmer called in sick to a keynote speaker engagement on the Gold Coast in the wake of spending $60 million to boost the Liberal election campaign.
Perhaps exhausted from bombarding Australians with text messages and “we will win government” advertising, and worn down after siphoning every drop of yellow paint from sign-writers nationwide, Mr Palmer cancelled his unpaid appearance at the Gold Coast Small Business Expo, citing illness.
Expo organiser Paula Brand was unimpressed.
“I think he’s sulking,” she said, outside the room which had filled with business people in unrequited anticipation of witnessing the mining magnate’s wisdom on small business issues.
“I think he’s disappointed he lost a federal election. Wouldn’t you be disappointed after spending $60 million and not winning a seat?
“But at the end of the day, if our business leaders can’t turn up, it’s pretty poor form.”
Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party candidates, many of whom declined to say whether or not they’d been paid to stand, won 3.4 per cent of the overall vote but failed to secure a single seat in either house of Parliament. KIDMAN Resources shareholders will vote on Wesfarmers’ $776 million takeover offer in August after the lithium miner entered into a scheme implementation deed with the WA-based conglomerate.
Wesfarmers has completed its due diligence and Kidman’s directors and its major shareholders all support the cash offer of $1.90 per share, which represents a 47.3 per cent premium to the price prior to the proposal’s announcement.
Wesfarmers had been looking for acquisitions after the demerger and IPO of supermarket Coles in November, as well as the sale of the Bengalla coal mine, Kmart Tyre and Auto Service, and Quadrant Energy.
It still owns Bunnings, the Kmart Group and various industrial groups.