Opinion: Rockhampton Mayor says politicians, not Adani, have left a bitter taste

Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow says the politics around the delayed approval of the Adani Carmichael mine has left locals more distrustful than the mining company ever did.

THE Adani issue has changed from being about the economy and environment to now being a matter of trust.

Margaret Strelow, Rockhampton Mayor. Picture: Allan Reinikka/The Morning Bulletin

Up until now the debate has been about whether the Carmichael mine was good for the economy and whether the environmental issues were being appropriately managed.

After eight years of approvals and court decisions those two issues have been settled.

The remaining issue is about the trust in our politicians and whether they have respect or care for the people of Rockhampton and regional Queensland.

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We care about the environment and we care about the Great Barrier Reef but once Adani became a political issue the truth became distorted by people with agendas.

There have been far too many lies from the activists and far too much politics from the Government played over the Adani mine. Good people who care about the environment have been seriously misled. And where our political leaders could have helped bring clarity and integrity to the process, they have failed.

Meanwhile, it’s the people of Rockhampton and regional Queensland who miss out. We have battled flood, fire and drought and watched helplessly as our jobs and our children drifted away to the capital.

We need our government to back us. Now more than ever. We are fighting for our very future.

I was in India with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and seven other regional Mayors. I heard her tell Gautam Adani that she supported the Carmichael Mine.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani meets with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Port of Townsville in December 2016. Picture: AAP/Cameron Laird

We sat down a long table, Premier and Mayors along one side and the Adani Board on the other. The questions were direct because the shenanigans had already started. But the Premier was clear and firm.

We decided then that we would back in the project. We thought the Palaszczuk Government was with us. Apart from some inter-regional rivalry we thought the jobs were assured.

Then came the election campaign and the NAIF funding was suddenly vetoed.

The Premier keeps saying that Adani has to stack up “environmentally and financially”. And I agree with her. And every process and approval already in place seems to indicate that it does. The Queensland Government has already granted multiple approvals and a mining lease and water licence. What were those approvals about?

There were 270 conditions placed on Adani to protect the environment when the approvals were granted, but somehow that wasn’t enough and years of court battles should have been enough to settle the issue.

Adani at Abbot Point outside Bowen. Picture: Tara Croser.

But all that was seemingly under a different set of rules. Now we have new ones that apply only to Adani.

It seems like there is a different and changing set of rules for Adani and for the people of regional Queensland. We look on and wonder how anything will get done.

While mining companies have to earn and sustain the trust of the community to keep their social licence, so too do our politicians.

Margaret Strelow, Mayor of Rockhampton