Clive Palmer Makes a Hasty Retreat in Campaign Press Conference Over Nickel Refinery Closure Question

Clive Palmer, Australia's mining billionaire who is daring Opposition leader Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the prime ministership in the Sept 14 election is not bold enough when it comes to question concerning the resource industry.

Mr Palmer quickly retreated from a press conference announcing the party's candidates in South Australia when he was asked by The Australian for clarification regarding a letter from the miner threatening to slash 1,000 jobs at Queensland Nickel unless he received a big cash infusion from a Chinese company that owes him money.

The letter said the nickel refinery suffered $58 million losses, but while Mr Palmer admitted the plant was losing money, he did not say how much was its losses and he refused to guarantee the 1,000 Queensland jobs.

He then promised to release a statement on Monday about his company's workers, but when pressed to be open about his businesses since he is running for public office, Mr Palmer became angry and abruptly ended the press conference by making a hasty retreat for the nearby stairs.

Clive Mathieson, the editor of The Australian, said the daily would not be stopped from investigating the business interests of Mr Palmer even if he threatens the newspaper with lawsuits and bars them from some media events. He cited the Tuesday statement of Queensland Premier Campbell Newman that Mr Palmer should answer legitimate questions from the media about his businesses.

"Mr Palmer is running for the highest office in the country. He should expect additional scrutiny and be prepared to answer questions in the interest of transparency," The Australian quoted Mr Mathieson.

But Mr Palmer, who is backed by more than 100 candidates from the Australian United Party, insisted it is his money and it is none of the voters' business.

Mr Palmer is also at odds with the premier whom the miner said should reemploy the 14,000 state employees the premier dismissed before he makes a commitment to all the jobs in the nickel plant.

He said the people of Townsville and employees of Queensland Nickel know of his strong personal commitment to the workers and their families and he does not need to respond to Mr Newman whom he said continually misleads Queenslanders.

Mr Palmer accused the premier of selling the state assets through sweetheart deals using lobbyist-friends.

While insisting of his commitment to Townsville, Queensland Nickel dropped sponsorship of the Fire basketball team, now seeking another major sponsor. The company said it dropped its sponsorship because of its different priorities.