Former chief law officer Christian Porter sues Australia with Clive Palmer, Anthony Albanese, Mark Dreyfus, $300 billion, Michelle Pini,

It may not be illegal, but there is something seriously amiss when the former chief lawmaker of the land joins a billionaire mining magnate to sue his own country, writes managing editor Michelle Pini.

FORMER ATTORNEY-GENERAL Christian Porter is representing billionaire Clive Palmer in a $300 billion lawsuit against the Australian Government.

Can there be a more damning indictment of the previous Morrison Government’s ethical vacuum than the fact that the person it appointed as the highest law officer in the land is now choosing to represent a foreign entity in a treacherous lawsuit against his own country?

Christian Porter may be best remembered for his part in the criminal Robodebt saga — an illegal government debt-collection scheme which drove over 2,000 people to suicide.

Readers may also remember Attorney-General Christian Porter as the Morrison Government minister at the centre of historical rape allegations, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison summarily dismissed and for which Porter was never investigated.

Christian Porter’s dark blind trust: Nothing to see here!

Christian Porter has resigned from the Morrison Cabinet – but not from Parliament – following his acceptance of a large donation to fund his legal battles.

Or perhaps it is the magical appearance of a blind trust, which provided $1 million dollars for the previous Attorney-General to put to use suing the national broadcaster for reporting on the matter, for which Porter may best be remembered. Not that Independent Australia is suggesting that Clive Palmer was in any way associated with this blind trust.

His above exploits notwithstanding and while Porter resigned under a cloud of scandal and is no longer charged with defending Australia’s interests against all threats, domestic or foreign, whichever way you cut it, there is something amiss here.

Nonetheless, today, a former Australian attorney-general, Christian Porter, is representing an Australian billionaire, Clive Palmer, whose mining interests put him on Forbes’ list of Australia’s richest people and who is suing his own country on a matter involving one of his offshore companies.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan described the move as "treacherous", and Palmer as the "greediest man in Australian history".

In the WA Legislative Assembly, Premier McGowan said:

"Today we have seen the most deplorable act of greed in Australian history."

Interestingly, Christian Porter, with the support of then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison, also used his position as then-Attorney-General to intervene in the High Court in favour of Palmer’s case against the Western Australian Government in an attempt to reopen WA's border during the pandemic but then withdrew from the case.

Of course, it can be argued that any of Palmer’s ongoing political interference in Australia’s democracy or his pernicious mining interests inflict immeasurable destruction on this land even without the said lawsuit.

Clive Palmer’s campaign will have a body count

Clive Palmer is launching another election campaign of misinformation and unwanted text messages, this time posing an even bigger danger.

But today, we are focusing on the destruction Clive Palmer is wreaking on his country with the countless lawsuits he files, demanding more money from Australian governments, both state and federal, for which significant taxpayer funds must be utilised to defend.

In his latest legal action, Palmer is suing the Australian Government for $300 billion, on behalf of an offshore company, Zeph Investments Pte Ltd, which he set up in Singapore, in 2019, to uproot iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Palmer previously lost his case against the Western Australian Government which he took to the High Court, but since Zeph Investments is an offshore corporation, he is able to revisit the case in an international tribunal.

The notice of arbitration claims that Premier McGowan WA Attorney-General John Quigley planned legislation to 'effectively destroy the claimant’s iron ore mining investments in Western Australia’.

Regardless of the result of Palmer’s latest case, it will cost Australia millions in legal costs.

And Christian Porter is defending him.

Perhaps it never entered the imaginings of those who set up our parliamentary system of government to include a special clause on this, but surely it should be illegal for Australia’s attorney-generals, past or present, to litigate treasonous lawsuits?

Of course, the mainstream media have reported this development. But while it is not illegal, the silence on the absence of moral fibre behind Porter’s actions is deafening.

Let’s imagine for a moment that, say, Nicola Roxon, who served as Australia’s Attorney-General in the Gillard Labor Government was representing a billionaire on behalf of a foreign corporation in a $300 billion lawsuit against the Australian Government. If Julia Gillard's kitchen renovation, which triggered a media frenzy and even a royal commission is anything to go by, it is likely the mainstream media cabal would be giving it a little more attention.

Since it is not illegal for Christian Porter to represent Clive Palmer in a lawsuit against his own country, let’s hope the joke is on him, since, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese opined: