- Amount demanded: US$280 billion
- Outcome: pending
- Treaty invoked: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA)
- Sector: fossil fuels
- Issue: climate
by Patricia Ranald | Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network and a research associate in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney (edited by bilaterals.org)
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer is using foreign investor rights in a trade agreement with Singapore to sue the Australian government for a total of about US$280 billion in four separate cases before an international investment tribunal. He registered his mining company, Zeph Investments, in Singapore and claimed to be a Singaporean investor. The cases were filed in 2023 and 2024.
Palmer’s first claim was for around US$200 billion after he lost a high court appeal against a Western Australian (WA) government decision to refuse an iron ore mining licence. The last three claims for a total of approximately US$80 billion are because a Queensland court refused his coal mining licence and a licence for a coal-fired power plant for environmental reasons, including increased carbon emissions.
In September 2025, the tribunal dismissed Palmer’s claim to be a Singaporean investor in the first WA iron ore case and ordered him to pay the Australian government legal costs of around US$9 million.
Palmer has added to the uncertainty by posting on social media that his legal team would challenge the tribunal’s decision in the federal supreme court of Switzerland as one of the seats of the international tribunal process. The Swiss court is not an appeal mechanism for the tribunal and cannot consider the broad merits of the case. In the meantime his other three coal-related cases may proceed.
Palmer’s last three cases join a growing global list of ISDS cases from fossil fuel companies against government decisions to reduce carbon emissions. A recent United Nations Report concluded that ISDS is a “major obstacle” to government action on climate change. Many governments are now withdrawing from ISDS arrangements. The European Union and the United Kingdom have quit the Energy Charter Treaty because fossil fuel investors are using its ISDS provisions to sue governments over phasing out fossil fuels.
