Billionaire Clive Palmer has experienced “harsh things said about him” publicly before, but not like the repeated “attacks” from West Australian Premier Mark McGowan, a court has heard.
The mining magnate is suing Mr McGowan for defamation, while the Premier is countersuing Mr Palmer in the Federal Court in Sydney.
Mr Palmer’s lawyer Peter Gray told the court on the first day of the trial that his client was defamed on several separate occasions.
Mr Gray said his client would testify about the impact of Mr McGowan’s comments on him.
“Mr Palmer is a man … who has some experience of having harsh things said about him in the public square,” Mr Gray said on Monday.
“But these attacks, these accusations … arxjmtzywe in a different league.
“They are not just the rough and tumble of name calling of a politician.”
Mr Gray said there were two situations that led to the alleged defamation.
The first was WA’s hard border in April 2020, which prompted a legal fight from Mr Palmer that ultimately failed.
The second was over a mining agreement involving Mr Palmer’s company Minerology, which led to the Queenslander launching another legal challenge over the stalled iron ore project in the Pilbara.
The state government swiftly passed legislation to kill off Mr Palmer’s alleged $30bn damages claim.
Mr Gray indicated there would be evidence presented at the trial to show few people knew about the bill before Attorney-General John Quigley introduced it to parliament.
Private text messages between the Premier and Mr Quigley will be revealed at the trial.
Clips were played in court of Mr McGowan making the allegedly defamatory comments about Mr Palmer.
During a press conference in July 2020, Mr McGowan described Mr Palmer as an “enemy of the state” when he urged the federal government not to be involved in the legal fight over the hard border.
The following month, he said Mr Palmer was trying to “promote hydroxychloroquine” in WA on the back of a theory that it helped with Covid-19.
Mr McGowan also said Mr Palmer incorrectly filled in his application to enter WA.
During another press conference, the Premier said Mr Palmer was “behaving erratically and very selfishly” in pursuing his High Court action.
In another press conference, he said WA was at “war” with Mr Palmer over the hard border.
Lawyer Bret Walker will give his opening address later on Monday.
Mr McGowan will also testify later during the trial.
