LNP leader Campbell Newman steps down from a semitrailer to greet party candidate Trevor Watts in Toowoomba yesterday. Picture: Cathy Finch Source: The Courier-Mail
THE Queensland Liberal National Party's chief financial backer, Clive Palmer, has launched an $8 billion legal action against coal carrier QR National, claiming it was doing the political bidding of the Bligh government.
Premier Anna Bligh and Treasurer Andrew Fraser yesterday condemned LNP leader Campbell Newman for being too close to Mr Palmer, who has donated $1.1 million to the LNP in Queensland in the past 18 months and is Australia's biggest political donor.
Mr Fraser said Mr Palmer would be expecting special treatment from any government led by Mr Newman, and called on the LNP leader to "rein him in".
"I'd just say to Mr Palmer and Mr Newman, this is Queensland in 2012, not the Gold Coast of the 1980s. What Queenslanders are seeing here is a window on the way an LNP government would operate," Mr Fraser said.
But Mr Newman said it was "outrageous" to suggest the mining magnate would have any influence over his government if he won the March 24 election.
"Mr Palmer's business affairs have nothing to do with this campaign," Mr Newman said. "If I am premier I will do what is right for Queensland, not for any company, not for any individual, not for any group of shareholders."
Asked at a press conference in Toowoomba if he had met Mr Palmer to talk about the Galilee Basin mining area in any capacity, Mr Newman said he had not.
The Australian
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