Nationals WA leader Mia Davies calls for inquiry into rushed Palmer Bill after McGowan Government ‘removes’ Clive Palmer’s rights

Nationals WA leader Mia Davies is calling for an independent inquiry into why the McGowan Government was forced to “remove the rights of an Australian citizen” to avoid Clive Palmer’s $30 billion lawsuit. Last Thursday night, Parliament passed unprecedented legislation seeking to extinguish long-running arbitration in relation to the WA Government’s 2012 and 2014 refusals to give the green light to Mr Palmer’s proposal to develop a Pilbara iron ore project. Ms Davies said WA’s legislative houses, Opposition and community were put in a “very poor position” when the Premier asked Parliament to rush through the emergency Bill or risk the State going bankrupt. “We were given no notice as opposition, in fact the attorney-general was on his feet the moment the Premier was telling the Leader of the Opposition and I what they were intending to do,” Ms Davis said. “We know that the Premier, with the attorney-general, has been working on this for six weeks.” Seeing Mr Palmer get his $30b wish was not something Ms Davies could accept, prompting her to trust the State Government and its request for support on “face value”. “It was clear to us that if we stood in the way of the Bill proceeding, that there was a very real risk that Mr Palmer, with his litigious nature, would be successful in bringing an action against the State for a significant amount of money,” she said. “We would never want to see the people of WA landed with a $30b bill and doubling of State debt overnight. “I think it will be incumbent on Government to allow an in-quiry into this, how we arrived at this situation, when this matter from a legal perspective is resolved. “Why the Government thought it was so urgent that we had to remove the rights of an Australian citizen to seek the course of the court and the justice system — I think that’s something that everyone deserves to know.” A spokesman for Mark McGowan said the Liberals and Nationals were briefed on multiple occasions by the solicitor general on the Bill. The spokesman did not address The Extra’s question on whether an inquiry would be held into the Bill. “These laws were brought in to protect the interests of the State and all West Australians,” he said. “The Bill was drafted by the best legal minds in WA to accommodate the sort of court action Clive Palmer was trying to bring on. “We have acknowledged that the legislation was unprecedented, but Mr Palmer’s behaviour was extraordinary. “If Mr Palmer was successful in his legal action, it would be devastating for West Australians all over the State, including in Albany.”