Spring in step of pain- free Palmer
A SPRIGHTLY Clive Palmer claims his pain has miraculously “resolved itself” after a dramatic week in which he attended court with a vomit bag, pillow and breathing device.
Mr Palmer shuffled into court over three days looking dishevelled and complaining he was too sick to be there, but the former politician had a spring in his step yesterday and treated himself to a juice box after he finished giving evidence. He had been ordered by a judge to attend the public examination into the collapse of Queensland Nickel with $ 300 million in debts and 800 job losses, after he tried to call in sick with pancreatitis and memory loss from pain killers.
“I was very lucky yesterday that my pain resolved itself at around four o’clock and I was able to go off morphine treatment so consequently this morning I was much better to be able to ... be as helpful as I could,” a smiling Mr Palmer said outside court yesterday.
The previous evening he was spotted at top eatery The Fish House in Burleigh with his wife Anna. Asked how he managed dinner out when he appeared so ill at court that day, he said: “As stated in court today ( Wednesday), my morphine treatment terminated yesterday with resolution of pain related issue. Still clutching his vomit bag in the witness box – despite never using it – he was grilled about the finances of his flagship company, Mineralogy, and the $ 34 million of his own cash he claims he sunk into the business. The former MP said some funds came out of his personal bank account, but he also had rich friends willing to help.
“I’ve got a lot of friends nationally who are happy to interwrite cheques for $ 50 or $ 100 million when I need it,” he said.
But Mr Palmer, who claims QN was entitled to rely on the Federal Government’s safety net scheme to fund about $ 70 million in redundancy payments, also boasted of his personal assets and wealth. “I don’t normally sell anything ... I’m a collector, I like to amass wealth and keep it, you never know when a rainy day is coming and a liquidator is going to knock on your door,” he said.