How the Rich 200 invest: Clive Palmer

One way the rich get what they want is by publicising a back-up plan.

For Clive Palmer, who wants to spend $2.5 billion redeveloping his Sunshine Coast resort and the infrastructure that supports it, the back-up plan is a former Club Med resort in Bora Bora, Tahiti.

“If I can’t develop here I might do it there,” says Palmer.

The mining magnate acquired the Tahitian resort in June for about $10 million and is believed to have paid up to $80 million for the Palmer Coolum Resort last year. He renamed it after a falling-out with former managers Hyatt.

Palmer’s plans for his Coolum resort are ambitious. Two 1000-room beachfront hotel towers are to be built as well as a monorail to bring people in from the Sunshine Coast airport and a hovercraft that can transport 400 passengers at a time from Brisbane.

“It is a place we can promote internationally to get more people to come to Australia,” he says.

Palmer claims the development of the resort and its surrounds will create 9000 jobs but getting the necessary green light won’t be easy.

To help win over local residents, he plans to provide them with copies of a book that will outline the arguments for and against his proposal.

Once the books have been distributed, Palmer intends to conduct a poll.

Getting his plans approved won’t be easy, even with Tahiti waiting in the wings. “A lot of people are against any sort of progress,” Palmer says.

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