Clive Palmer has issued some rare praise for the Chinese government, welcoming Beijing's decision to ban imports of "dirty" coal from next year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Amid concern that the ban - designed to improve air quality in China's smog-choked cities - could have a devastating effect on Australia's multi-billion dollar coal exports, Mr Palmer said the move was "good for the environment and good for mankind".
"Comparatively, Australia has more clean energy than competing countries like Indonesia. It will have a greater impact on Indonesia," the leader of the Palmer United Party said.
"It's a good move. There will be less pollution as a result."
Mr Palmer's praise comes just weeks after he created furore with comments describing the Chinese as "mongrels" who "shoot their own people" and who "haven't got a justice system". He later apologised for his comments made on live television.
While Mr Palmer famously stood shoulder to shoulder with former US vice-president Al Gore and committed himself to join the fight to combat climate change, he has at the same time been fighting to establish a massive coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin.
In January, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt granted environmental approval to Mr Palmer's Waratah Coal to develop a $6 billion thermal coal mine and a 500km rail line to the Abbot Point coal terminal in Bowen in north Queensland.
The type of black coal in the Galilee would not be affected by the Chinese government's decision to limit the use of imported coal with more than 40 per cent ash and 3 per cent sulphur in the three main coal-using regions from January 1, 2015.
GVK-Hancock, a joint venture between Gina Rinehart's Hancock Coal and Indian conglomerate GVK, also plan to build coal mines in the region.
On Tuesday, the Minerals Council of Australia sought to hose down fears that the dirty coal ban could derail Australia's massive coal export industry.
But the Greens said the restrictions were proof that the country should rethink "exporting coal that the world doesn't want".
Greens Senator Larissa Waters said: "The Minerals Council is fooling themselves and Australians. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. New clean energy investment in China is outstripping fossil fuel investment. China is serious about cleaning up their air pollution. Coal imports are flat, they are bringing forward an emissions trading scheme in 2016 and Beijing has placed a cap on coal.
"We have the potential to transition to a clean energy future by becoming a world leader in renewable energy, instead of exporting coal that the world doesn't want, but the Abbott government is holding us back.
"The reason the Abbott government wants to scrap ARENA [Australian Renewable Energy Agency] is because Australia is creating cutting edge clean energy technologies that we can export to the world and further hasten the demise of coal fired power."
Australia exports an estimated 49 million tonnes of thermal coal a year to China, which could be at risk with the ban.
