AFTINET | 9 December 2025
ISDS tribunal publishes decision in first Clive Palmer ISDS case more than a year after hearings
The tribunal in the first Clive Palmer ISDS case, which claimed $300 billion from the Australian government, has published its decision 10 weeks after it was announced by the government and more than a year after the original hearings. These delays and lack of transparency are typical of ISDS tribunals.
Australian billionaire Palmer registered his mining company in Singapore, claimed to be a Singaporean investor and used an Australian trade agreement with Singapore to sue the Australian government for a total of $420 billion in four separate cases.
The first case concerned an iron ore mining license in Western Australia. As previously reported, the tribunal found Palmer was not a Singaporean investor and ordered him to pay $13.6 million in government legal costs.
The Government hoped Palmer would withdraw the three remaining coal-related claims for $120 billion if the first decision was negative. But Palmer is challenging the tribunal’s decision by seeking annulment in the supreme court of Switzerland, as one of the seats of the international tribunal process, which can enforce award payments.
The Swiss court is not an appeal mechanism for the tribunal and cannot consider the broad merits of the decision, only technical issues. Palmer’s action may not succeed, but it means extra time and costs for the government.
This indicates that Palmer is likely to proceed with the other three coal-related cases in 2026. Australia could face years of litigation and tens of millions in legal costs for each case, even if Palmer loses each of them.
The Australian Labor government has a policy against ISDS in new agreements and to remove it from existing agreements, but this is a slow process. AFTINET will continue to analyse these cases, expose the dangers of ISDS and campaign for a speedier process to remove ISDS from all trade agreements, including the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, which is being used by Palmer. This could be done if the government takes the lead in cooperating with other governments for joint agreements to remove ISDS from all agreements.
