Western Australia’s Attorney-General John Quigley has been described by Clive Palmer’s lawyer as an “unreliable witness” after he sought to correct evidence he gave at a defamation trial involving the billionaire.
The mining magnate and WA Premier Mark McGowan are suing each other for defamation in the Federal Court, with both giving evidence in-person in NSW, along with Mr Quigley.
But it was revealed on Thursday that Mr Quigley wanted to correct “mistakes” he made in his oral testimony on March 9.
Mr McGowan’s barrister Bret Walker suggested to Justice Michael Lee that it would be appropriate for Mr Quigley to be re-examined.
But Mr Palmer’s legal counsel Barry Dean said Mr Quigley was effectively asking for a “do-over”.
“Your honour will need to consider and assess the credit of this witness,” Mr Dean said.
“There will be criticisms of this witness and those criticisms should have been obvious from anybody who saw the previous evidence.
“There’s no way your honour, in my submission, can find that this is a reliable witness.”
Justice Lee did not make an immediate ruling on the matter.
Mr Quigley’s testimony centred predominantly on the extraordinary legislation that was passed in 2020 to stop Mr Palmer from seeking up to $30bn in damages over a stalled mining project.
He repeatedly denied he was lying under oath, or that he had been deceitful and dishonourable in his dealings with Mr Palmer.
In his affidavit, Mr Quigley denied the existence of an alleged “attack plan” against Mr Palmer.
“I did not implement, orchestrate or participate in any plan to distress, provoke, insult or distract Mr Palmer, and I’m not aware of the existence of any such plan,” he said.
In private messages to the Premier, Mr Quigley labelled Mr Palmer a “big fat liar” and said he was “looking forward to dumping on Palmer in statesman-like way”.
In one text message exchange, Mr Quigley referred to Mr Palmer as “the turd” and wrote: “I’ve been awake since 4.15am thinking of ways to beat big, fat Clive.”
Mr Quigley also referred to a “Trojan horse in which there will be a poison pill for the fat man.”
In another message, Mr Quigley said: “Hey, are you glad me single again — not making love in the sweet hours before dawn, instead worrying how to defeat Clive.”
Justice Lee will hear closing submissions at a later date.
