The West Australian government's failed bid to wrest control of cash left over from the long-running Bell Group saga was worth a shot, Premier Colin Barnett says.
It began in 1995, four years after the Alan Bond-controlled group collapsed, and centred on loans provided to various Bell companies by a consortium of 20 banks.
While the WA Supreme Court approved a settlement between the liquidators and banks in 2013, the state government felt compelled last year to pass legislation designed to short-circuit the jostling of various creditors, including the Australian Tax Office.
The creditors argued, however, that the bill was unconstitutional and on Monday, the High Court of Australia deemed the legislation invalid in its entirety because it was inconsistent with two tax acts.
The nation's most expensive and longest-running legal case now looks likely to run for at least another decade, with the state government-owned Insurance Commission of WA, which principally bankrolled the initial litigation with a $200 million contribution, vowing to return to the courts.
An ICWA spokesman said it would pursue an order under a section of the Corporations Act that gives creditors who indemnified the liquidator an advantage over other creditors in consideration for the risks assumed by them.
"ICWA carried the free-riding other creditors for 20 years with its funding, so it will continue to push on for a fair return," the spokesman told AAP on Tuesday.
Mr Barnett said the court outcome was disappointing, but he didn't regret the legislation, given there would probably be no cash left at the end of the legal wrangling.
"It was always a long shot but bear in mind this litigation has gone on for 20 years," Mr Barnett told reporters.
"Speculators and lawyers have lived off this, have been feeding on that carcass.
"That money belongs to the people of Western Australia, well most of it does.
"I don't apologise for having a go at trying to retrieve that money."
It would have been nice if the federal government had been more supportive of the state's case, Mr Barnett added.
Treasurer Mike Nahan went a step further, telling parliament the WA government had a deal with the Commonwealth not to oppose the bill.
"At least the Bell Act was a noble effort to try to solve this problem," Dr Nahan said.
