Billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer has accused the Australian Greens of being in cahoots with a "foreign power" and the CIA to eat away at Australia's economic advantage.
But he denies he is a conspiracy theorist.
Mr Palmer launched an extraordinary attack on the Greens and environmentalists during a press conference on Tuesday, saying they were being funded by the US spy agency to undermine Australia's national economy.
A leaked plan by an Australian anti-coal group to thwart coal projects is proof of the accusation, he says.
Mr Palmer said the document showed the anti-coal group was funded by the US Rockefeller Foundation, an American philanthropic group he described as a conduit of the CIA and the US government.
The alliance was trying to undermine the Australian economy and offset the geographic advantage of Australia's proximity to Asia.
"This is a serious matter indeed because it goes to the political independence of all Australians," he told journalists on Friday.
"We don't want domination by a foreign power, and that's what we've got here."
Asked what the US agenda was, Mr Palmer said, "I think they want to promote their economies at the expense of ours."
He said all Greens candidates should resign if they were being funded by a foreign political power.
"It's tantamount to treason, and something needs to be done about it."
Queensland anti-coal seam gas activist Drew Hutton, who is named in the document as part of an advisory group, was a puppet of the Americans, he said.
"Drew Hutton is a tool of the US government and Rockefeller, and so are the Greens and everything they say. It's as simple as that," he told reporters.
Mr Palmer said he was not a conspiracy theorist because "it's here in black and white".
"You only have to look at this secret budget which was passed by (the US) Congress last year, bigger than our whole national economy ... the CIA's got to ensure that.
"You only have to read the reports to US Congress where the CIA reported to the president that their role was to ensure the US competitive advantage and economic advantages.
"That's how you know it's funded by the CIA."
Mr Palmer had called the press conference to announce that he would not seek a High Court challenge against the federal government's mining tax.
FOOTBALL Federation Australia has slammed a breakaway move by A-League rebel Clive Palmer, describing it as a "farcical stunt".
Palmer, whose A-League club Gold Coast United was booted out of the competition earlier this week, announced the creation of Football Australia, a watchdog that would ensure the game operated with "transparency and fairness".
An apparent bid to create a breakaway league was doomed almost instantly when Gold Coast players refused to join Palmer's rebel outfit.
Palmer claimed the body - to be headed by former A-League and St Kilda chief Archie Fraser - was not out to topple FFA.
It continues a stand-off between mining magnate Palmer and FFA chairman and billionaire Frank Lowy.
Palmer likened his splinter group to the Lowy Institute, a think tank for international policy set up by Lowy.
"The FFA has lurched from one disaster to another and needs to be replaced," said Palmer, who on Wednesday was stripped of his A-League licence by FFA for breaches of the club participation agreement.
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said he was "gobsmacked" by Palmer's announcement.
"When I first saw it, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. I thought it was a bad comedy routine gone particularly bad," Buckley told Fox Sports News.
"But having said that, this has become a very serious issue.
"This is nothing more than a farcical stunt to distract everyone from what is the most important issue, and that is to play the rest of the season with integrity, with fairness, and make sure the (Gold Coast) players get to Wellington this weekend and play the game."
Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin slammed Clive Palmer's "watchdog" plans.
An angry Griffin declared the venture - which would be funded by the billionaire - a waste of time.
"It will fade as quickly as it has risen. Not even the dumbest of dumb would take this entity seriously," Griffin said.
It's understood Palmer had approached his players to join a rebel competition - which would fail to be sanctioned by the world game's governing body FIFA and result in players being banned from international football.
But Fraser rejected suggestions a breakaway league was in Football Australia 's plans.
Palmer's stated aim is that Football Australia replace FFA as the game's national governing body.
Buckley said there was no chance the two bodies would work together.
Palmer will today go to the Supreme Court challenge FFA's decision to strip him of his A-League licence for alleged breaches including his "Freedom of Speech" stunt at Skilled Park last Saturday, when Gold Coast players had the free speech message on their jerseys.
If successful with his injunction, Gold Coast will complete the season under his ownership, starting from Sunday's away match against Wellington Phoenix.
If Palmer's court action fails, the match is likely to still be played, with Gold Coast players understood to have agreed to finish the season and be paid by FFA.
Palmer claimed that FFA chairman Lowy had approached him about winding up Gold Coast United and helping to set up a western Sydney team by investing $5 million. But Buckley rebutted the claim.
"It wasn't the FFA who approached Clive Palmer about withdrawing from the Gold Coast - he summoned Lyall Gorman to a meeting with his management team back in early February, indicated at that point in time, very strongly, that he wanted to exit the competition at the end of this season," Buckley said.
"He followed that up in writing, he had subsequent conversations with us about that, he sent his management team to Sydney to meet with us to put a proposal upon which he would withdraw from the competition.
''So let's be very clear: this is an issue made by and led by Clive Palmer. The FFA did not go to Clive Palmer and ask him to withdraw."
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer to build Titanic II
Mr Palmer says the Titanic replica will be a tribute to the men and women who built the original ship
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
Why Australia is China's quarry of choice
Titanic captain's family's tale
Titanic attraction to open in Belfast
Clive Palmer, one of Australia's richest men, has commissioned a Chinese state-owned company to build a 21st Century version of the Titanic.
The mining billionaire told Australian media that construction will start at the end of next year.
It would be ready to set sail in 2016.
The plan, he added, is for the vessel to be as similar as possible to the original Titanic in design and specifications, but with modern technology.
Mr Palmer told Australian media that he had signed a memorandum of understanding with CSC Jinling Shipyard to construct the ship.
"It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st Century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems," he said in a statement.
The announcement comes just weeks after the centenary of the sinking of the ill-fated Titanic.
The vessel, the largest luxury ship in its time, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. It went down on 15 April 1912, leaving more than 1,500 people dead.
"Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it,'' Mr Palmer said in response to questions from reporters on whether the Titanic replica would sink.
The Titanic was thought to be 'unsinkable'
The new vessel is scheduled to sail from London to New York in late 2016, if all goes as planned.
"It is going to be designed so it won't sink,'' he added. ''But, of course, if you are superstitious like you are, you never know what could happen.''
The cost of the construction is not known, a spokesman for Mr Palmer told Australian media.
The mining magnate from Queensland, who has strong business relations with China, has expanded into tourism. He owns a luxury resort on the Sunshine Coast and has plans to build a fleet of luxury liners.
His plan to build the Titanic replica was announced on the same day that he revealed plans, in a separate news conference, to contest the next federal election in Queensland.
He told reporters that he has expressed interest in standing for Queensland's Liberal National Party (LNP), part of the conservative opposition at federal level, in the Brisbane seat of Lilley - currently held by Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Clive update thread
Linear Mode
