Palmer sues Qld Premier Anna Bligh for defamation

QUEENSLAND'S richest man Clive Palmer, who has accused Anna Bligh of defamation, donated $559,000 to the conservative parties last financial year.

Figures released by the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday show Mr Palmer's company Mineralogy donated $412,000 to the National Party and $147,000 to the Liberal Party.

He also provided $20,000 to the ALP in Western Australia.

Mr Palmer, who has mining interests in Queensland and Western Australia, is suing Queensland Premier Anna Bligh for $1 million over comments she made in an ABC television interview.

Read more.

Weekend Australian Magazine has an article on Clive Palmer. Power Play, January 31, 2009.

Janet Albrechtsen with a juicy column

A sip...

THE Rudd Government has some heavy holiday reading for punters this summer. Last week John Faulkner released his electoral reform green paper, which asks some weighty questions about how best to reform our democracy from the improper influence of political donations. However, genuine reform will require the Labor Party to do its own house cleaning: kicking its addiction to union money and its reliance on union election campaigns. Anything less is window-dressing, at best. And, at worst, reforms that address concerns about the practices of pro-business parties while leaving untouched the abuses favoured by the unions will simply skew democracy in Labor’s favour. One-sided reforms will actually damage democracy.

The whole column here.