Mining magnate Clive Palmer has accused the Australian Greens and Queensland environmental campaigners of "treason" in conspiring with US powers to destroy the nation's coal industry.

Mr Palmer was expected to give his response to the passing of the Gillard government's mining tax at a media conference called this afternoon, but the multi-billionaire was concerned only with perceived collusion between the United States' Central Intelligence Agency and the environmental lobby.

Mr Palmer says the CIA wants to harm Australian industry and help American interests.

He also targeted the Greens, claiming they were "tools" of the US government.

Senator Carr says he expects to be called by American contacts today asking for an explanation.

"I expect to have at the very least a few curious but bemused phone calls from Americans... expressing bewilderment that someone so close to Tony Abbott, the alternative prime minister, is raving about a CIA plot to wreck the Australian economy," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-21/carr-attacks-palmer-conspiracy-theory/3902626?WT.svl=news1

The CIA has denied mining magnate Clive Palmer's claims that it is funding a campaign to attack the Australian coal industry.

The billionaire yesterday alleged that a Greenpeace plan to launch legal action against future coal mining projects was funded by the CIA with the aim of harming Australian industry and helping American interests.

He also targeted the Greens, claiming they were "tools" of the United States government.

"I think the Greens in this coming state election, all their candidates should resign if they are being funded by an offshore political power," said Mr Palmer, who is a major backer of Queensland's Liberal National Party.

But a CIA spokesman has told the ABC via email that the claims are wrong.

"Simply put, these allegations are false," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-21/cia-hits-back-at-palmer-conspiracy-claims/3903796?WT.svl=news2

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He then added: "the CIA could not run a school fete let along a conspiracy against an entire friendly government..."

Clive Palmer has hinted that his claims the green movement was linked to the CIA were a ploy to keep negative attention away from now-Premier Campbell Newman in the lead up to the Queensland poll.

Mr Palmer suggested critics of coal expansion in Queensland have been bankrolled by the CIA in a bid to promote American interests.

He now says he would not repeat the claims, but that he does not regret making the statement.

"Without you (media), without Julia Gillard, without the Treasurer, without the Greens raising these things in the Senate, who knows where the attention might have been in the last weeks coming up to the election," he said.

"So it's wonderful that all of you could play a small role in having Campbell Newman elected as Premier of Queensland.

"So well done, you all deserve a round of applause."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-26/palmer-hints-cia-claims-were-a-ploy/3913574?WT.svl=news1

The media fell for it... Palmer will never be credible again (if he ever was) ... 

Environmental campaigner Drew Hutton is pursuing legal action against Clive Palmer, saying the mining magnate cannot go around saying whatever he wants about people just because he is a billionaire.

Last week Mr Palmer accused the environmental campaigner of having links to the CIA in a plot to shut down Australian mining operations.

But in Brisbane yesterday, Mr Palmer suggested his comments were merely a distraction to take some heat off LNP leader Campbell Newman in the run-up to the Queensland state election.

Mr Palmer now says he would not repeat the claims, but that he does not regret making the statement.

"Without you (the media), without Julia Gillard, without the Treasurer, without the Greens raising these things in the Senate, who knows where the attention might have been in the last weeks coming up to the election?" he said.

Mr Hutton says Mr Palmer thinks he is untouchable.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-26/palmer-hints-cia-claims-were-a-ploy/3913574?WT.svl=news1 

Thank goodness for Clive Palmer, the human whoopee cushion of Australian politics, and the joie de vivre of his announcement today.

To build a new Titanic, Titanic II: this is a towering and fabulous ambition, unconstrained by any shamefully prosaic considerations like Mr Palmer never having built a ship before, or the – some would say – inauspicious connotations that cling to the full-fathom-five wreckage of the original craft.

No problem, says Mr Palmer of the New Titanic, with an insouciance unheard since 1911: "It is going to be designed so it can't sink."

But to announce simultaneously his plans to run for the Liberal Party in Wayne Swan's seat of Lilley – here's where the magic really kicks in.

Never before has such an ambitious non-sequitur been attempted in the field of Australian enterprise: it's as if Richard Wilkins had announced his intention to tilt for Olympic javelin gold, while balancing a carrot on his nose.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-30/crabb-some-comic-relief-from-the-dispiriting-tug-of-war/3980736?WT.svl=theDrum

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Very funny Annabel but not really. It is a very sad indictment of the way some people are. First, Palmer is a dedicated liar and admitted to it when he interfered in the running of the Queensland elections by saying the greens were funded by the CIA... Ah-ah... It would not have made much difference, I suppose but it was there to distract from the fact that Newman is not as savoury as he appears... Newman like Abbott is a grand opportunist. And Palmer does not deserve the attention he gets... But he is rich and rich people do what they want and influence who they choose via a bunch of lackey dung beetles who are waiting for the fat bloke to let another one fall so they can push it uphill. More ugly than funny...

OUTSPOKEN billionaire and LNP donor Clive Palmer has compared members of the party's hierarchy to Nazis in an insult likely to inflame an already tense situation.

Internal divisions in the LNP deepened yesterday as the mining magnate took aim, and Gold Coast MP Alex Douglas dragged Premier Campbell Newman into the fray by demanding he intervene in a dispute between MPs.

Mr Palmer's LNP life membership was suspended on Friday following a blistering attack in which he called for the removal of Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney and Treasurer Tim Nicholls and claimed "crooks" in Cabinet had cooked the books to exaggerate the state deficit.

Mr Palmer said his suspension was punishment for lodging a complaint with the LNP just hours earlier against Mr Seeney.

The entrepreneur, who has lodged legal action against Mr Seeney and the Co-ordinator General over the rejection of his Waratah Coal project as a preferred tenderer for a multibillion-dollar mine/rail/port development in central Queensland, accused Mr Seeney of bullying by ordering an audit of his mining operations.

He described the action as a misuse of power comparable to the disregard Nazis held for the courts in the lead-up to World War II.

http://www.news.com.au/national/billionaire-clive-palmer-lashes-out-over-mining-audit-order-comparing-liberal-national-party-lnp-to-nazis/story-fndo4ckr-1226514345865