Mark McGowan may be in Sydney for his defamation trial involving billionaire Clive Palmer, but the West Australian Premier says his “main aim” is to avoid contracting Covid-19 while in NSW.
Mr McGowan flew out of WA late last week and spent the weekend with his family, inlcuding his elderly parents in Coffs Harbour.
The premier told reporters outside court on Monday that his parents backed WA’s controversial hard border – something he has previously insisted too.
His parents visited him in WA last March — days before Labor’s thumping state election victory — when quarantine-free travel was allowed for NSW travellers.
Asked how he was finding the Covid situation in NSW now, Mr McGowan said: “Well, hopefully I haven’t acquired it.”
“That’s the main aim here. I know they’ve been through a tough time here in NSW and Victoria over the course of the last two years.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into helping NSW, in particular, with dealing with Covid, with medical staff and masks, and extra vaccines.
“Obviously we kept our economy open during this very difficult period, which has allowed the Commonwealth to provide a lot of support to NSW and Victoria.”
Mr McGowan and the mining magnate are suing each other for defamation in the Federal Court in NSW, with the Premier forced to travel to Sydney to give evidence in-person.
During his testimony, Mr McGowan said Mr Palmer’s “crazed language and behaviour” gave people licence to issue death threats against him and his family during the pandemic, including sending white powder to his wife and threatening to behead his children.
“(He) arouses this anger and this madness in our community that contributes – I don’t say it’s all him – but he contributes to these sorts of behaviours that I’ve never in my lifetime seen before,” Mr McGowan told the court on Monday.
“I now have, outside my home, a police car parked 24 hours a day, I have police that accompany me virtually anywhere I go.
“My entire family is under threat because of all this madness that people like Mr Palmer stir up that results in me having to close my electoral office because my staff are under threat.
“This sort of crazed language and behaviour promotes and gives some people licence in order to let loose the darker angels of their nature to hold someone, namely me and therefore my family, responsible for whatever conspiracy they then get into their heads.”
Mr McGowan will resume giving evidence on Wednesday.
He will quarantine for seven days upon his return to WA despite not being required to.
WA Attorney-General John Quigley will also testify during the trial.
The court has heard detailed evidence about Mr Palmer’s legal fight over the WA hard border, the Queenslander’s stalled iron ore project, arbitration between the parties and the extraordinary legislation that was passed to block Mr Palmer’s ability to claim almost $30bn in damages.
Mr Palmer previously told the court he believed the law passed in WA gave Mr McGowan power to murder him with impunity.
“That was my analysis – that the scope was wide open and I acknowledge that murder was an extreme,” he told the court.
Barrister Bret Walker grilled Mr Palmer during cross-examination, suggesting there was nothing in the legislation about authorising murder.
“It was quite a shock when the Bill came through and all these things happened, and there was a great level of fear in what might be happening and what might be going on that we don’t know about,” Mr Palmer responded.
“I reached a view that that’s what I thought it enabled them to do if they wanted to at an extreme level … that was a level of concern.”
Mr Palmer even likened the situation to a James Bond film and Nazi Germany.
“I was a bit frightened what they might to do me or my family … they could really do anything to me,” he said.
“I then thought about James Bond movies … how would you licence someone to kill? I didn’t know what the limits might be.
“I did think about … what happened in Nazi Germany and how that legislation was framed … I guess I was racing all over the place because I didn’t know a rational explanation for this.”
