CORONAVIRUS —
INTERSTATE BORDER RESTRICTIONS — HIGH COURT CHALLENGE
524. Ms S.E. WINTON to the Attorney General:
Can
the Attorney General update the house on the status of Clive Palmer's
High Court challenge to Western Australia's hard border?
Mr J.R.
QUIGLEY replied:
I thank the member for Wanneroo for
her question and yes, I can. The state of Western Australia has received an
offer of settlement from Clive Palmer—an offer to withdraw the High
Court action. In the terms of the offer, he exposes himself to be the liar and
fraudster that he is. I will read out the letter of offer —
1.
As the State is aware, Mineralogy is currently pursuing a High Court challenge
against the state's border closers. One of Mineralogy concerns is ensuring
all its team and representatives are able to attend any hearing of the
arbitration. Mineralogy's High Court case has caused considerable
stress in the community when it became apparent last week that it may be
successful.
2.
In good faith, and despite the fact that the Applicants' decision maker
will not be able to attend in Perth in person, the Applicants have agreed that
the mediation takes place in Perth and that Wayne Martin AC QC act as mediator.
3.
If the matter does not settle at mediation, Mr Palmer must be able to attend
the arbitration hearing in person. Likewise, Peter Dunning QC must also be able
to attend in person.
4.
As the state cannot guarantee those parties
entry to Western Australia, the only option is for Mineralogy to be
successful in its High Court challenge and for the arbitration hearings to be
held in Perth or, alternatively, for the parties to agree the arbitration
hearings can be held outside Western Australia.
5. If the State can agree
for the arbitration hearing —
Listen to this bit!
being held in Canberra, Mineralogy
could be agreeable to withdraw its High Court challenge on that basis with each
party to pay their own costs.
6.
I can explore this option if the State thinks it has merit. I will be
discussing matters in detail with the relevant parties at 3 pm (AWST) on
Monday, 3 August 2020 and it would be helpful if you could provide some
feedback by then.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas
Browning
In-House
Counsel
Mineralogy Pty
Ltd
International
Minerals Pty Ltd
I table the offer put forward by
Clive Palmer and Mineralogy and International Minerals.
�[See paper 3556.]
Mrs L.M. Harvey: Nine days
ago!
Mr
J.R. QUIGLEY: You can count! That
is good. You can count, and Parliament is back. This is my first opportunity to
table this document. What is this document saying? It is saying, ''I don't
care about the state border closure. What I care about is getting my arbitrator
and the legal team and the experts into Perth to plunder Western Australia for
$30 billion in an arbitration. I will agree to withdraw my High Court challenge
and to leave the border closed if you, Western Australia, agree to shift the
venue over to a jurisdiction in the eastern states of Mr Palmer's
choosing.'' What a liar he has exposed himself to be! He has been
publishing these ads, which include statements such as —
Like all Australians my major concern
is for the health of our community. I have a strong commitment to Western Australia
and the men and women who have built this state.
He
does not have any commitment. He has a visceral hatred for Western Australia.
That is self-evident. He goes on —
Not only is the Western Australian
government's action unconstitutional, it is against the best interests
of Western Australian families.
He does not care about the interests
of Western Australian families. We know that the hard border introduced by the McGowan Labor government has kept Western Australia
virus free for nearly three months—over three months, in fact.
His only interest is getting across that border with his legal team and experts
and arbitrator to plunder $30 billion from Western Australian taxpayers. How do
you like this bit?
The SPEAKER: Attorney
General, this is question time. It is not a speech.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY: I know it is
question time. Thank you for reminding me of that, Mr Speaker, but this is
very, very important. He calls upon the Western Australian government to
maintain the hot spots but take down the border. To top it all he has an ad in
the newspaper that says —
� Premier Mark McGowan continue to
deny � Western Australians jobs and prosperity by refusing to open their state's
borders �
He wants the borders open so that he
can come and plunder $30 billion from this state and rob all our families of
prosperity, rob all their jobs, shut the state down and send it bankrupt.
The SPEAKER: Attorney
General!
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY: He says that
Western Australia needs travel now so that he can travel over with his experts,
with his counsel, with Mr Dunning, QC, to plunder this state for $30 billion.
It is not going to happen! I table the offer that has been sent to us. I think
I have tabled it already.
The SPEAKER: The paper is
tabled. Thank you, Attorney General.