If Clive is defamed presumably the Queensland taxpayer will do the paying.

It makes it sound very serious indeed when someone sues someone else for $1.1 million for saying nasty things about them. Clive Palmer certainly knows how to use such a figure to get a headline or two. And fair minded fellow that the founder of the Palmer United Party is, he promises to pay the money he expects to get from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman for defaming him straight to Mission Australia “to assist the charity with its work to help sacked Queensland public servants”.
What kind Clive has not explained to the good voters of Queensland is that they are the ones who will be paying for the largesse should he win. Politicians are skilled at having their Cabinet colleagues agree that anything said out of order that results in damages being awarded was just part and parcel of their official work. Hence the government pays both the damages and any legal costs.
No wonder that Campbell Newman does not seem to be in a hurry to retract any statement he made.
The ABC has a good coverage of what the Palmer-Newman dispute is all about.

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