Clive Palmer enjoys small court win as judge agrees to disqualify himself from Queensland Nickel case

Clive Palmer has succeeded in his legal bid to have the judge overseeing the case against him and his collapsed company, Queensland Nickel, recuse himself.

Palmer applied just last week to have Justice John Bond disqualify himself, arguing that the judge had already shown “apprehended bias” because of an order he made to freeze $205m worth of the entrepreneur's assets earlier this year.

Justice Bond agreed that there was an inherent risk that observers could conclude that he may not be impartial in future hearings, because the judge had already found that Mr Palmer’s evidence given so far in the legal proceedings “did not appear to be true or credible”.

Justice Bond decided to stand down in the interest of a fair trial, “because it was likely that there would be very many issues at trial in which the question whether Mr Palmer should be believed would need to be resolved - including in relation to the very matters on which Justice Bond had already found Mr Palmer’s evidence as it then stood to be implausible.”

It means another judge, Justice Jackson will take over the case from today onwards.

Some critics have suggested this legal move by Palmer was little more than an attempt to stall the liquidator’s case, who are trying to reclaim at $70 million in entitlements for worked sacked at Queensland Nickel after the mine collapsed in 2016.

But if it was, it failed.

A three-month trial set down to start on April 29 next year, will still go ahead, just under a different judge.

Palmer did not turn up to court to hear Justice Bond deliver his judgement.