Clive Palmer sabotages carbon tax repeal bid with 'double-cross' claim, flies to New Zealand, refuses to answer question on China deal

Updated

After skewering the Government's attempts to kill off the carbon tax in the Senate, Clive Palmer has walked out of an interview with the ABC's 7.30 program when questioning turned to his legal battle with a former Chinese business partner.

Mr Palmer did the interview by video-link from Queenstown in New Zealand after spending most of Thursday in Canberra, leading his party's tactics on the crucial vote.

The mining tycoon is currently engaged in a bitter legal dispute with Citic Pacific that centres on cost blow-outs and royalty payments at an iron ore project in WA.

"Don't talk to me about allegations and bullshit," he responded to questions about the issue from 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson.

"I'm not discussing it with you any further, Madam. It's subject to court proceedings."

The interview ended with Mr Palmer saying: "I'm not answering any more for you, so goodbye, we'll see you later".

Watch the full interview with Clive Palmer

The leader of the Palmer United Party began the day by unexpectedly announcing that his three Senators would not vote to repeal the tax because the party had been "double-crossed" by the Coalition.

The switch was unexpected and came just hours after Prime Minister Tony Abbott had heralded that "today should be the day when the carbon tax is finally scrapped".

But it was not to be.

At the eleventh hour, the Government's hopes fell foul of Mr Palmer's claim his party had been "double-crossed" by the Coalition.

The Senate voted 37 votes to 35 against repeal, with the three PUP senators and Motoring Enthusiast Ricky Muir voting with Labor and the Greens against the repeal.

The Abbott Government is pressing ahead with its repeal bid by bringing it back to Parliament on Monday.

Two weeks ago, Mr Palmer announced with great fanfare - flanked by former US vice-president Al Gore - that he would back the repeal bills if key conditions were met.

That included the passing of an amendment that power companies be required by law to pass on to consumers any savings they made from the repeal of the tax or face a hefty fine.

Companies that failed to pass on savings within the first year of the repeal would be forced to pay a penalty of 250 per cent of the savings to the Commonwealth.

That amendment was at the crux of events in the Senate on Thursday.

Acting on the presumption that it had PUP support for the repeal, the Government began the sitting day by successfully limiting debate and bringing on an early vote on the bills.

But Mr Palmer baulked when it became clear that the latest version of the amendment had not been circulated to senators for a vote - an omission he blamed on the Coalition.

"I think you'd call it double-crossing people," he said.

He later said it "could have" been a deliberate attempt by the Government to dupe his new senators.

"But you never want to underestimate the incompetence of the Abbott Government," he added.

Labor's leader in the Senate Penny Wong said it appeared "the Palmer United Party might have been sold a pup".

"Sorry - I had to just say that once," she added.

PUP advised amendment was unconstitutional

In the midst of Senate debate on the repeal legislation, the PUP amendment was tabled but then - curiously - withdrawn by PUP itself.

It later emerged the clerk of the Senate had advised PUP the amendment was unconstitutional because the 250 per cent penalty that applied to companies could be seen as a tax, and would therefore have to pass the House of Representatives first.

Mr Palmer has disputed the advice.

"In my mind, that's a penalty, it's a consequence of what you haven't done," he said.

"However, somehow the clerk said it could be a tax and therefore might not be constitutional.

"It's not a tax, right? It's a penalty."

The Government says the "technical" issue should be easily fixed.

"The Government will seek to do everything it can to facilitate the passage of the repeal, in a manner that will allow the Palmer United Party amendments to be moved in the House of Representatives and then come through to the Senate next week," Government leader in the Senate Eric Abetz told reporters shortly after losing the vote.

"By the end of next week, hopefully, this impost on Australians' cost of living and the job-destroying tax that it is, costing Australians $11 million a day, as we speak, can be removed for all time."

Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the minor party had circulated three versions of its amendments and the Government saw the latest one around 9:15am.

"We have supported and agreed with all," he said.

These PUPs bite, warns Jacqui Lambie

The carbon tax repeal vote may go the Government's way next week, but PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie has issued a warning that this episode has badly damaged relations.

"I do believe that we've been treated unfairly and we've been lied to," Senator Lambie said.

"We try to give them a little bit of trust and they've just blown it out of the water, so I guess she's open slather."

The Tasmanian senator has also called for the Coalition's chief negotiator Senator Abetz - who is also from Tasmania - to be sacked.

She says the Government's negotiations have been "absolutely disgraceful" and she hasn't seen any "charm" emanating from Coalition senators.

"I must've missed that bit. It certainly didn't work for me. You can't charm the PUPs, we're full of bite," she said.

"Eric Abetz needs to be sacked immediately and they need to put someone up there that's got some communications skills and that's not prepared to try and trick you, because that's not the way forward."

The Government needs the support of six of the eight crossbenchers to pass any legislation opposed by the Labor and the Greens.

The Opposition says the Government has made a mistake by trusting Mr Palmer, and should have negotiated with Labor to repeal the tax and replace it with an emissions trading scheme.

"Yet another commitment, another election promise from this Prime Minister, to terminate the carbon tax, now lies in tatters," Opposition Environment spokesman Mark Butler said.

Greens leader Christine Milne described Thursday's events in the Senate as "chaotic" but said there was an upside.

"The good news today is that we still have a carbon price in Australia," she said.

"We still have a price that is bringing down emissions as we speak, and the Greens are going to do everything we can to keep it that way."

Topics: clive-palmer, emissions-trading, government-and-politics, federal-government, federal-parliament, abbott-tony, industry, mining-industry, australia, wa

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