In 2002, Geoff Gallop’s Labor government in Western Australia entered into a state agreement with Mineralogy, Clive Palmer’s company, for the development of the Balmoral South iron ore mine in the Pilbara. Generally speaking, a state agreement is a statutory contract agreed between a company and the state containing the terms that form the basis of a mining project. It prescribes, amongst other things, the rights and obligations of the parties, the process for approval and the process to resolve disputes. In WA, they are common. 

After hours last Tuesday, the WA Attorney General, John Quigley, sought to suspend standing orders to introduce a bill to the state...