The Clive Palmer Queensland Nickel collapse trial is set to resume after a one day break so the billionaire businessman could brief his new insolvency expert.

July 30, 2019

Clive Palmer is expected to return to court for the Queensland Nickel collapse trial after briefing an insolvency expert to testify in his defence.

The billionaire businessman is fighting a $200 million lawsuit in the Brisbane Supreme Court against the liquidators of his Townsville refinery, which was shut down in early 2016.

Exactly when the cash-strapped refinery slipped into insolvency is one the most critical issues of the trial, Justice Debra Mullins says.

Lawyer for the liquidators Shane Doyle says QN was trading insolvently for about four months before its management team called in administrators.

Mr Palmer is expected to vigorously reject that allegation.

But the mining magnate’s defence was dealt a blow in the days leading up to the nine-week trial when his insolvency expert Peter Dinoris pulled out.

He was so critical to the defence, Mr Palmer launched a last-minute legal bid to postpone the trial but that was rejected by Justice Mullins.

Since then, the courtroom has received daily updates as the Palmer camp battled to replace Mr Dinoris.

Justice Mullins hasn’t been impressed with their efforts, however, rebuking them on more than one occasion for their tardiness.

Her frustration boiled over last Tuesday when the court was told the replacement expert couldn’t begin work assessing the reams of QN financial evidence because he’d flown to Brazil.

Then on Friday, a lawyer representing Mr Palmer’s companies revealed the replacement had already been replaced because “my clients haven’t been able to come to a final agreement over fees” with him.

It wasn’t all bad news for Mr Palmer, however.

A new insolvency expert willing to testify for the former federal MP and his 20 co-defendants had been found, the court heard.

Justice Mullins agreed to adjourn the trial so the Palmer camp could brief their third expert on Monday.

The trial resumes on Tuesday.