Adani mine: Minister caught in second embarrassing video
No sooner has the Premier tried to hose down an embarrassing gaffe by her Environment Minister caught on video, footage of a similar incident has emerged.
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PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk says she has not watched a video of her Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch saying she had shed tears over the approval of the Adani coalmine.
The video, which surfaced yesterday, was the second embarrassing exchange to emerge in the past two days from Ms Enoch’s trip to Cairns last Saturday.
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In both videos, she seemed to distance herself from her own department’s decision to approve the mine in response to anti-Adani activists.
But Ms Enoch said the short clips failed to capture the context of her comments.
Ms Palaszczuk was well-briefed for questions on the first video before a press conference on Monday, but yesterday said she had not seen the second video.
“I haven’t seen that footage, so I can’t comment on that footage,” she said.
The Courier-Mail was told that she was unlikely to see the 32-second video before the end of the day yesterday due to a busy travel schedule.
Ms Palaszczuk dismissed claims Ms Enoch’s comments showed her government was split over the Adani decision.
Ms Enoch yesterday said her comments on Saturday night were about how the Adani issue had divided traditional owners and the Queensland community.
“I have shed tears over the offensive comments that have been directed at me and my family, and the division and heartache this one project has caused in the community, particularly amongst traditional owners,” she said.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said there was “open warfare” in Ms Palaszczuk’s “bitterly divided” Cabinet.
“Labor are a complete and utter rabble because the only jobs they care about are their own,” she said.
Ms Enoch’s comments came as environmental activists ramped up a civil disobedience campaign in Brisbane, when two protesters glued themselves to a zebra crossing in the CBD, causing gridlock in yesterday’s morning peak hour.
Police took more than an hour to remove the pair, using chemicals to dissolve the glue binding the protesters to the crossing.
Police inspector Geoff Acreman said the stunt was a waste of resources.
“This is a massive inconvenience to emergency services and resources,” he said.
The protest was part of the international Extinction Rebellion movement, with a spokesman saying that it was about forcing leaders to take action on climate change.
“What the campaign is saying is that business as usual is leading us to catastrophe.”
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