Media release
The federal leader of the Palmer United Party and Member for Fairfax, Clive Palmer, says false allegations published in The Australian today are just part of an ongoing smear campaign by a newspaper now dismissed as ‘pathetic’ by a former News Limited boss.
Mr Palmer said the allegations related to Mineralogy’s dealings with Chinese company Citic Pacific are completely false.
“This is just part of an ongoing campaign by The Australian and News Limited to undermine me and the Palmer United Party because the party soon will assume the balance of power in the Senate,” he said.
“The Australian doesn’t run stories about the Murdoch press phone tapping activities in the UK, bribes to authorities or the fact that The Australian has never made a profit and loses millions of dollars each year.
“The editor-in-chief of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, apparently wants to be Rupert Murdoch’s top lap dog in Australia and has followed his master’s orders by continuing to give Tony Abbott an armchair ride.
“It’s no wonder Rupert’s former right hand man in Australia, the highly respected Ken Cowley, was recently moved to describe The Australian as ‘pathetic’. The Australian people should know that it is my view the only useful role The Australian newspaper has to play is in a fish and chip shop.”
Mr Palmer said Citic continues to export Australian iron ore without paying its bills.
“Citic currently owes Mineralogy millions of dollars and uses the courts as part of a Chinese government strategy to break Australian enterprises and take control of Australian assets without paying for them,” he said.
“They seek to bring in Chinese workers at low salaries and take Australian jobs. Alarmingly, News Limited seems to be happy to support them in any way they can.”