Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel has paid its entire outstanding $2.73m carbon tax debt just weeks before the Palmer United party takes up its crucial crossbench seats in the Senate.

The Clean Energy Regulator said it has “received a payment from Queensland Nickel of $2.73 million on 13 June 2014 which covers the total outstanding debt, including late payment penalties, owed by Queensland Nickel under carbon pricing mechanism for the 2012-13 compliance year, as at 13 June 2014.”



On Thursday Palmer announced his senators would definitely support the carbon tax repeal so long as the savings were “by law, are transferred into lower energy costs for everyday Australians". The Abbott government had already pledged to do this.



Palmer had previously demanded the carbon tax repeal be “retrospective” and had also demanded his senators have the chance to also vote down the Abbott government’s alternative $2.5bn Direct Action climate change plan.



Palmer, who holds the lower house Queensland seat of Fairfax, abstained from voting on the repeal bills in the lower house because of his conflict of interest, but insists that problem does not apply to his senators whose votes will determine whether the repeal succeeds.



After his outstanding debt became an issue during the Western Australia Senate re-run campaign, Palmer paid the clean energy regulator $6.82m on 1 April 2014, which cleared his debt as it stood on December 31 but did not include accruing penalties.

