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Townsville Mayor urges government to help Palmer's ailing Queensland Nickel

Saturday, 5 Mar 2016 09:48:00 | Josh Bavas

Queensland Nickel went into voluntary administration in January. (AAP)

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill has asked for the state and federal governments to put aside their differences and come to the aid of Queensland Nickel administrators to save the ailing plant.

In a final bid to save Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel from closing at Yabulu near Townsville in north Queensland, administrators asked the State Government to step in as guarantor for a $10 million loan.

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt then sent the request to Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison, who rejected the plea.

Cr Hill said it would end up costing the Federal Government more if the plant shut and hundreds of workers lost their jobs.

"If it goes into liquidation, most of the employees will be entitled to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, which will cost the Federal Government probably three or four times ... the bank guarantee that they're being asked to support," she said.

"We've seen federal governments in the past pour hundreds of millions into industries they've wanted to save.

"We're not asking for hundreds of millions - they're looking for a $10 million guarantee to allow them to continue to trade so they can sell or they can look to find a buyer.

"It's something that at no fault of the community itself — we're now caught in this quagmire between Clive Palmer, the Federal Government and the State Government.

"For God's sake, someone have [the] courage to sign a piece of paper to act as a guarantor so we can continue to move through this process and keep the plant open."

She said she had hoped the two levels of government could work together to prevent a disaster.

"We've seen federal governments in the past pour hundreds of millions into industries they've wanted to save," she said.

All resource projects under pressure: MP

Federal MP Ewen Jones said the request had been made specifically to the state and not the Commonwealth.

"It's OK for Curtis Pitt to ask for it but when we say no, it can't be our fault," Mr Jones said.

"The $10 million they've asked for - I mean, where do we stop?

"I've got corner store operators up here and they could use an overdraft facility - there's not a resource project in Australia that is not under pressure that could not use injected capital.

"What we've got to do is get a little bit smarter with how we'll do it — don't just come to Canberra with your handout, come to us with a plan."

Mr Jones said there were other ventures worth investing in.

"What they could do is issue the mining lease for the Carmichael Mine [in central Queensland] and that would solve a lot of problems up here," he said.

Mr Pitt was yet to disclose his final decision.

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