Clive Palmer has been accused of repeatedly lying to a Sydney court after claiming he penned the lyrics to a political jingle at the centre of a copyright stoush.
The businessman is being sued by Universal Music over his re-written version of Twisted Sister’s 1984 track We’re Not Gonna Take It, which featured in United Australia Party advertising last year.
The Federal Court in Sydney today heard Mr Palmer claims, in an affidavit, to have written his lyrics in September 2018 while “deep in contemplation” about the upcoming federal election.
But appearing via video link, Mr Palmer said his words had nothing to do with the metal track and were devised after he watched the 1976 movie Network, which includes the line “I’m not going to take this anymore”.
Mr Palmer said the only record of the lyrics being written was on a notepad which he routinely keeps next to his bed for “doodles and thoughts” when he wakes up at 4:00am — a common practice for “creative people”.
“Every day it’s removed and thrown in the trash. I don’t control that, my staff do,” Mr Palmer told the court.
The court has previously heard Mr Palmer’s team sought a licence to use the Twisted Sister track but abandoned negotiations because he didn’t agree with the price.
US glam rock band Twisted Sister in the video to their song We’re Not Gonna Take It.(Www.Twistedsister.Com)
Barrister Patrick Flynn SC, for Universal, reminded Mr Palmer under cross-examination that he was under an oath to tell Justice Anna Katzmann the truth.
“Do you understand this is not a political interview?” Mr Flynn said.
“Yes,” the businessman replied.
Mr Flynn accused Mr Palmer of making up multiple parts of his evidence, which he denied.
“Mr Palmer, you will say anything, won’t you, if you think it helps your political cause?” he said.
“No,” Mr Palmer replied.
Mr Palmer told the court he did not want to pay to use the song because it was not original and was a version of the Christmas carol O Come, All Ye Faithful.
“It’s not about money, it’s about the principle here,” he said.
“I’m not prepared to be ripped off.”
His affidavit described the former politician as someone with a “keen interest in the publication of original poetic works” who “regularly publishes poetic works”.
Mr Palmer’s legal team is arguing he did not reproduce a “substantial part” of the song and made “material changes” to the lyrics.
The words of Mr Palmer’s song included “Australia ain’t gonna cop it”.
On Tuesday, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider told the court Mr Palmer’s version of his song was “awful” and “misrepresented the message”.
On a video link from the US, the musician also said any association with Mr Palmer was not good for his heavy metal image.
He acknowledged the track was “inspired” by the carol, but insisted he had “transformed” the first six notes.
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Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and adviser Rudy Giuliani is at the centre of a scandalous scene in the upcoming Borat movie sequel.
In the film, Mr Giuliani – the former mayor of New York City – has been fooled into meeting with 24-year-old actress Maria Bakalova, who is playing Borat’s daughter and posing as a conservative TV journalist.
The pair meet in a hotel room after a fake interview – but things soon take an extremely awkward turn when the 76-year-old begins to hold her hands, compliment her looks and follow her to the bedroom.
Ms Bakalova then removes the pair’s microphones and Mr Giuliani lies down on the bed before putting his hands down his pants.
They are interrupted when Borat – clad in pink, lacy underwear – bursts into the room and says: “She’s 15. She’s too old for you”.
However, Mr Giuliani and his team have repeatedly claimed he actually foiled the entire incident.
In a July interview with the New York Post, Mr Giuliani said he didn’t recognise Sacha Baron Cohen at first, and called the police after he entered the hotel room.
“This guy comes running in, wearing a crazy, what I would say was a pink transgender outfit,” Mr Giuliani said.
“This person comes in yelling and screaming, and I thought this must be a scam or a shakedown, so I reported it to the police. He then ran away.
“I only later realised it must have been Sacha Baron Cohen. I thought about all the people he previously fooled and I felt good about myself because he didn’t get me.”
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Melbourne was just days away from its next round of restriction-easing, now a new outbreak has forced 400 people back into isolation and put everything at risk.
Two schools have closed in Melbourne, as five suburbs have been put on alert and a social housing block has been forced into lockdown after a student who was supposed to be isolating tested positive for coronavirus this week.
The source of the outbreak is East Preston Islamic College, which has been closed after a year 5 boy tested positive.
Melburnians were looking forward to a further round of easing COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday, and Daniel Andrews says that will “hopefully” still happen but now an infectious diseases specialist has warned the latest outbreak may put the plans at risk.
Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake told the Today show the new clusters were a “serious worry” that will push state’s contact tracing system to its limits.
“In the first few days you need to try and identify all the cases and try and work out who those contacts are, so having this focused blitz early on is really important and will determine how successful your contact tracing is,” he said.
However, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says the outbreak is not a good enough reason for Victoria to delay its easing of restrictions.
Mr Hunt told ABC News Breakfast that Victoria’s improved contact tracing and low case numbers meant restaurants and retail stores should still be allowed to reopen.
“NSW has been able to manage low levels of case numbers … by being predominantly open, which is immensely important to health and mental health, in particular, as well as giving people back their employment,” he said. “And that’s a model that Victoria can follow.”
Victoria has recorded five new cases today. The suburbs on high alert include Roxburgh Park, Dallas, Preston and West Heidelberg
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