Mining is very important to Australia’s economy and China is a major trading partner. We want good relationships with them.
But Palmer in absolutely, no way, shape or form, speaks for the Australian government. He’s one Member of Parliament out of 150 who has a party with a handful of Senators. Because the Senate is split in the way it is, his party has a degree of control over the balance of power in the Senate which makes him influential for the moment, but he doesn’t speak for the Australian government and nobody who is reasonably well informed about Australian politics, including the Chinese would think that he does.
He has a history of speaking his mind, and speaking without thinking, on all sorts of issues. He’s a loudmouth - he just happens to be a loud mouth with hundreds of millions of dollars. If he’d been more rational, the Liberal/National Coalition would have been happy to preselect him to run for a seat under their own banner - just how marginalised he is is indicated by the fact he had to start his own party to get into Parliament!
Politicians from the major parties don’t use rhetoric like he does. Sometimes they may criticise China - and that is certainly sometimes appropriate - but they do in diplomatic terms.
Punished for speaking the truth?
Sure China’s got a lot of money to spend, but they are bastards when it comes to business - specifically state-organized spying & industrial espionage on Western countries, which they do on a massive scale.
I don’t see the reverse happening.
Let the real truth come out.
True, but it's evident the Chinese are choosing to be bolshie and take offence at Australia, refusing to recogise we can't just shoot Plamer or exile him to Norfolk island - attractive as that option seems.