SHOW US THE MONEY CLIVE

PALMER’S PLAN TO REOPEN YABULU MET WITH CYNICISM

POLITICAL leaders and former workers are sceptical Clive Palmer will reopen the Yabulu nickel refinery.

Mr Palmer ( pictured) has told media he could use some of the cash awarded in a $ 197 million lawsuit to fund a restart of the plant. Yabulu was closed in March last year when nickel prices tanked and Mr Palmer was in dispute with administrators, throwing 800 people out of work.

Mayor Jenny Hill said the community would be dubious of Mr Palmer’s claims.

POLITICAL leaders and former workers are sceptical Clive Palmer will reopen the Yabulu nickel refinery and say he should pay his debts before that occurs.

Mr Palmer has told media he could use some of the cash awarded in a $ 197 million lawsuit to restart the plant.

Yabulu was closed in March last year when nickel prices tanked and Mr Palmer was in dispute with administrators, throwing 800 people out of work.

Mr Palmer told ABC Radio yesterday he had a team of people looking at reopening the refinery and 500 people who had registered for jobs.

“It never would have closed if the Chinese Government would have met their obligations, or the Australian and Queensland governments had been prepared to support the community, but now we’re in a position to do that. So we’re seeing what can be done to open it as soon as we can,” he said.

The West Australian Supreme Court last week ruled Chinese giant Citic owed substantial unpaid royalties to Mr Palmer’s companies.

One former refinery worker, Shaun Bramwell, said he would be prepared to return to work at the refinery but was unsure whether he could believe Mr Palmer.

Former refinery operating company Queensland Nickel collapsed with debts of $ 300 million, including about $ 20 million to Aurizon and more than $ 1 million in rates to Townsville City Council.

Mayor Jenny Hill said the community would be dubious of Mr Palmer’s claims.

She said the council was pursuing Mr Palmer for more than $ 1 million in rates and charges.

“Clive Palmer ran the refinery into the ground last time so Townsville workers would be very sceptical about his intentions,” Cr Hill said.

“Everyone in Townsville would welcome the jobs from Queensland Nickel restarting operations but most people would prefer ( another) operator to manage the business instead of Mr Palmer.” The Federal Government is pursuing Mr Palmer, in- cluding for more than $ 60 million in workers’ redundancy entitlements paid out of the Government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme when Queensland Nickel went into liquidation.

A spokesman for federal Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the Government was determined to ensure that former Queensland Nickel workers were paid what they were owed.

While the ruling sets the scene for ongoing royalty payments potentially worth about $ 200 million a year to Mr Palmer over the remaining life of Sino Iron, an appeal is likely. y

WE’RE SEEING WHAT CAN BE DONE TO OPEN IT AS SOON AS WE CAN. CLIVE PALMER