Clive Palmer says he has no personal responsibility to ensure his sacked refinery workers get their entitlements.
The federal MP's company, Queensland Nickel, which bankrolled his Palmer United Party to the tune of $20 million, has gone into administration after sacking 237 refinery workers earlier this month.
"I have no personal responsibility, I retired from business over three years ago," Mr Palmer told reporters on Tuesday, when asked if he'd use his own personal wealth to pay out staff entitlements.
He added: "Of the 22,000 workers sacked in Queensland and lost their jobs, none of those shareholders or any of those companies put up a cent and of course the government didn't do anything to help those 22,000 suffering families".
Mr Palmer repeated his intention to recontest his Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax, despite a Galaxy poll this week putting his primary support at just two per cent.
As he headed into an Australia Day citizenship ceremony, he told reporters he'd "always had a lot of support" in the local community.
Senior members of the government have called on Mr Palmer to quit parliament and focus on the fate of workers sacked from his Yabulu refinery near Townsville.
The Galaxy poll of 506 Fairfax voters, conducted six days after the sackings, showed primary support for Mr Palmer virtually non-existent and a far cry from the 26.5 per cent he managed when he narrowly won Fairfax on preferences in 2013.
It also showed 83 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with his performance, with just seven per cent believing he was doing a satisfactory job.
Creditors of Queensland Nickel, including axed workers, will meet in Townsville on Friday for an update on the company's financial position.
The Australian Workers Union has said the workers have no hope of seeing their money in the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, not-for-profit regional investment bank Sister City Partners is gauging interest in a community buyback of the refinery.
Director Warwick Powell has told AAP the bank had received 900 expressions of interest after a social media campaign about the idea began on Sunday.
The Australian Workers Union says regulators and not Mr Palmer should determine if he can be held personally liable for workers' entitlements.
Mr Palmer claims he's distanced himself from the running of Queensland Nickel (QNI).
But the union has written to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission asking it to investigate whether he's been acting as a shadow director.
"Whether he chooses to voluntarily do that (pay entitlements) may become a moot point," AWU secretary Ben Swan told AAP on Tuesday.
"It might be the case that the regulators or the courts or the liquidators have a particular view about Mr Palmer and his liabilities if he's found to be a shadow director and has been exerting control or directing decision-making within QNI."
Mr Swan said media reports over the past week had only heightened the union's concerns Mr Palmer "had his fingers all over the QNI operation, notwithstanding the fact he ceased being a director back in February last year".
ASIC is yet to respond to the union's request for an investigation.
But it has held discussions with the company's administrators, who are required under the Corporations Act to report back to ASIC and creditors.
