Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer sought and gained a personal audience with Queensland Premier David Crisafulli over a “matter of commercial significance” related to his interests in the state, but the details have been blocked from public release.

This masthead sought documents relating to three meetings between the pair disclosed in Crisafulli’s official diary over 12 months from last August, most recently after Palmer changed the name of his coal operation.

Only one text message was found and released by the Department of Premier and Cabinet under Right to Information laws, but with key segments redacted as they were deemed “contrary to the public interest”.

Crisafulli’s government has taken an unapologetically pro-coal stance, vowing to keep its fossil-fuel power stations running longer and creating new hurdles for renewable projects and mine objections, while expanding state approval powers.

The approaches by the state’s richest man came as he rekindled ties with the Nationals – one half of the formally merged state LNP, which now faces a threat from One Nation, and once competed against Palmer’s own political projects.

Crisafulli’s deputy, the Sunshine Coast-based Jarrod Bleijie, has also on several occasions met with Australia’s richest person, One Nation-backer Gina Rinehart – who lobbied him directly for Olympic rowing to be held in Rockhampton.

The message released to this masthead this week, the exact dates of which are not disclosed, appears to show a representative of Palmer apologising to a Crisafulli staffer for a late call attempting to set up a meeting between the pair.

A section then appearing to explain the reason for the request is redacted under provisions relating to matters deemed by the Right to Information officer to be “contrary to the public interest”, with a suggestion the meeting happen at Crisafulli’s Broadwater electorate office.

The Paradise Point shopfront is just a five-minute drive from some of Palmer’s extensive, multimillion-dollar property holdings on the nearby man-made Sovereign Islands.

“Feel free to call tomorrow or Clive directly,” the message signs off. A morning meeting then appeared to be confirmed for Parliament House in Brisbane instead.

In explaining the redaction, the departmental officer acknowledged disclosure of the information may promote further open discussion and “enhance government accountability”.

But this was overshadowed by the weight applied to the impact this detail being made public would have on “the business’ competitive position and, consequently, its business and commercial affairs”.

“A small amount of the information relates to a matter of commercial significance, which relates to non-public information about the status and progression of business and commercial activities,” the decision letter read.

“Disclosure would make that information available to competitors and other commercial participants.”
Both Crisafulli and Palmer have previously failed to respond to this masthead’s questions about their meetings, which were categorised as “portfolio matters” and only on one occasion were said to also feature staff. Neither have yet responded to follow-up approaches this week.

No correspondence between Palmer and the premier directly, or between representatives of the two, or documents relating to the three diarised meetings were located in Right to Information searches within either the premier’s office or the department.

Along with the state’s fossil fuel-friendly stance and pursuit of critical mineral projects, the government has also secured a Commonwealth carve-out for fossil fuel projects to power data centres the government is also chasing as a major economic opportunity.

Crisafulli told News24 earlier this month his government would support a new coal-fired power station to underpin the Claude-maker Anthropic-backed mega data centre near Dalby, about 250 kilometres west of Brisbane.

He also hinted that more AI data centre development proposals may be on the horizon.

Proposals from Palmer’s Waratah Coal – now called Energy A – for a coal-fired power station near Alpha, west of Rockhampton, state’s largest coal mine nearby were knocked back under the former Labor government.

Disclosures in the state’s lobbying register by Palmer’s lobbyist Malcolm Cole and the diary of Crisafulli’s chief of staff, Richard Ferrett, have described two related interactions by that pair as “commercial-in-confidence”.

One entry by Ferrett in August was described as “discussion regarding Energy A’s proposed coal mining operations in Queensland”. Cole’s said the talks related to the resources, energy and state development portfolios.

Palmer’s Mineralogy also made a rare foray back into state political donations this year, tipping $3800 into LNP coffers for an event ticket on a date aligning with the party’s “Delivering for Queensland Industry Update” at which one property developer paid $50,000 for a lunch with Bleijie.

Energy A also handed Queensland Labor $5000 on August 10 for tickets to a “fundraising event”, which Palmer was said to have not attended.

At least the funding for legal advice to young people will be. How quaint. As per the article:

"It has had state government funding for the scheme for 20 years, she said. Its $3m allocation will instead go to Anglicare."

Come on now, the stench of fundamentalist MO is high with this one.

Say I wonder if they have a tender in for the boot camps.... Maybe I speak too soon, but there's a reason we moved away from all those orphanages, and there's even better reason the church run one's are so sorely... Stereotyped. Anyway that's getting a bit ahead of myself, but I'll be watching that space. Hard to imagine any success with that when the MO has more to do with rebuilding Rome than it does anything else.

Hey guys, I’ll try to keep it short but just wanting some advice from people who have used a traffic lawyer!

Recently I was pulled over for a SPER suspended license (I had no idea at the time unfortunately, no excuses - is what it is). It’s a non negotiable NTA at court now. Anyways, my concern with this is that the mandatory for a SS is disqualification for anywhere 1-6 maybe more months. Doing my research on Google and various other subreddits, I’ve seen you can’t get a work license, so I’m in a pickle as I need my license for work.

I was told to look at using a traffic lawyer to see if they can get the case lessened, or even plea for the lesser months suspension. They have a fixed price of 3k (the one I’m looking at going with anyways), and I just want opinions for people who have used one or self represented. Either way Im preparing that I’m going to be up for a disqual, but I don’t know if it’s worth getting a lawyer if I will most probably get the same outcome if I just turn up and plead guilty?

I dont know how it works, I’ve never been to court and haven’t had any previous traffic issues.