QUEENSLAND billionaire Clive Palmer has attacked the Australian media while accepting his company was responsible for an error in a press release about a $US60 billion ($A68.9 billion) coal deal with China.
The chairman of Resourcehouse Ltd, which is yet to be listed, confirmed an admission he made on Tuesday that the wrong Chinese company had been named in a statement about Australia's biggest resource contract.
But Mr Palmer told a news conference in Perth yesterday that the media had beaten the issue up.
At a news conference with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh on Saturday, Mr Palmer announced a $US60 billion deal for the proposed China First coalmine and infrastructure project in Queensland.
''That [name] was reported as being China International Development Ltd, when in actual fact the company that entered into the agreement was China Power International Holdings Limited,'' Mr Palmer said yesterday.
He went on to say the blame rested with his company for making a mistake in the first place in the press release and he accepted that blame.
''But I think the beat-up rests with the journalists,'' he said. ''This is the biggest beat-up I've ever seen.
''I've had enough of the press in this country. Not one journalist contacted me. Not one journalist sought a confirmatory statement.''
AAP
