Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer has refused to answer questions about his legal battle with Chinese mining company Citic and has instead attacked journalists for asking them.

After delivering a speech at the National Press Club, Mr Palmer fielded questions from press gallery reporters with many of them asking about his court proceedings.

“I’m not prepared to take a question on that topic,” the crossbench MP said.

Watch the exchange, here:

Mr Palmer suggested he be asked about his year-in-review speech, saying, “You haven’t got the guts to ask a question on the topic because it’s beyond your intellectual capacity, why don’t you admit it?”

When he was later asked why he was attacking journalists, Mr Palmer said “I didn’t think I was … these are matters before the court and if I comment it would be contempt of court”.

The attack was in stark contrast to the opening of his speech in which he said, “There is no profession more important, no duty more sacred than being a member of the media, protecting the public’s right to know and right to knowledge so that people can exercise their democratic franchise in the best interests of the country and the nation”.

Mr Palmer is facing legal proceedings in Queensland over allegations he misused funds for his election campaign.

Citic alleges Mr Palmer spent $10 million of its money on his campaign last year, with a further $2.167 million being funnelled to other areas.

Mr Palmer has previously walked out of television interviews with ABC’s 7:30 and Lateline when asked about the court action.

Lambie confirms meeting with ‘the devil himself’

Mr Palmer’s party has gone through upheaval in recent weeks, including his spectacular falling out with Jacqui Lambie.

Senator Lambie said she is pleased Mr Palmer is willing to work with her despite the split.

“I did have a meeting with the devil himself, yes, I did,” she said.

“I went and met with him and made sure I could get his support on what’s going on with defence personnel and obviously just to see what their stance still was on the education.”

Mr Palmer spoke warmly about the meeting, saying: “One of the important things in life is to listen to other people and Jacqui had something she wanted to say and I was more than happy to listen to her”.

Despite her defection, Mr Palmer today predicted Senator Lambie will continue to vote with the Palmer United Party on “most issues”.

This article originally appeared on ABC and has been republished here with full permission.

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