Adani blames State Government for job delays after federal approval

Mining giant Adani will letterbox bomb 130,000 households to blame the State Government for stalling jobs, after the coal miner was yesterday granted federal approvals.

INDIAN mining giant Adani will today letterbox bomb 130,000 households in the state’s north to blame the State Government for stalling thousands of jobs, after the coal miner was yesterday granted federal approvals.

The fate of Adani’s 6750 direct and 1500 indirect jobs rests with Annastacia Palaszczuk and her Labor colleagues, dragging Bill Shorten into a political clash on the eve of a federal election.

Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price yesterday ticked off on her department’s decision to approve Adani’s groundwater management plans. The decision was just days after federal LNP MPs and Senators put on “suicide vests” and warned they would explode if the project was not treated fairly.

Ball in State Government’s court as Federal Government sends Adani down the chain

Several federal MPs caught wind of a deliberate go-slow, which they believe was advised by their senior Victorian counterparts.

Adani’s advertisement which targets the state government.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison moved to stop any potential delay and calmed the Queenslanders, pledging all processes would be adhered too.

Ms Price, who was Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s former junior minister, was not planning to approve the groundwater management plan before the election because of perceptions of the impact of Adani in Victorian seats.

On Monday, The Courier-Mail revealed Queensland federal LNP powerbroker James McGrath told Ms Price he would publicly call for her resignation if she treated Adani differently to other projects and stalled Queensland jobs.

Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch yesterday threw shade over the project to allege “political interference”.

“I am very concerned that Barnaby Joyce’s and (Resource Minster) Matt Canavan’s political campaign reeks of political interference, and may have compromised the integrity of the decision-making process,’’ Ms Enoch said.

This morning she told ABC radio she would never use her power to overturn a decision made by the environmental regulator in relation to Adani.

Ms Enoch said the Indian miner’s claims the Government was “shifting the goal posts” was unequivocally untrue.

“It is not my decision as the minister (to approve final two management plans), it is the decision of the environmental regulator which in this case in Queensland is DES,” she said.

“I will not have the environmental regulator bullied nor will I interfere politically in the role of the regulator. To do that would undermine the environmental laws of this state.”

When asked whether she had the power to overturn a decision by the regulator, Ms Enoch said that would be political interference.

“I would never use that power,” she said. “We’re looking at a decision right now by the Federal Government.“

Mines to come online after adani

The project cannot start the mine’s construction or railway until the State Government approves the project’s Black-throated Finch Management Plan and Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Management Plan.

There is no time frame that forces the State Government to decide. However, many of federal Labor’s Left faction, including Mark Butler, are on the record saying they do not want the mine to go ahead.

Acting Premier Jackie Trad is also from the Left. She has not publicly decried the project but it is widely believed she also does not support the project.

With only the State Government now standing in the way of the project, Adani will today stuff letterboxes from Townsville to Rockhampton with campaign material that demands it “stop moving the goalposts so Adani can start kicking goals for workers and families”.

All of those households are in marginal seats and key to Mr Morrison holding the keys to The Lodge.

The campaign will cover Townsville to Rockhampton.

It comes as Adani Mining chief executive officer Lucas Dow accused the Queensland Government had to stop shifting the goalposts.

“Adani Mining has been through these planning and approvals processes for more than eight years now,’’ Mr Dow said.

“We have been subject to nine legal challenges, all of which we have successfully won. Regional Queenslanders know what Adani’s coal mine will do for them.

“Now all that is needed is for the Queensland Government to recognise this contribution, much like they did when they first went to India seeking out Adani’s investment in the Galilee Basin.

A Stop Adani protestor takes to the stage where Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was making a speech at a the Valley Chamber of Commerce business luncheon in Brisbane, Monday, April 8, 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

“The proposed Carmichael mine has been the most scrutinised mining project in years and, despite the hysteria and campaigns by activists to shut us down, we have proved we are serious about meeting the expectations of the Australian people.”

Mr Morrison yesterday said Mr Shorten needed to come clean about his view of the project.

“I note that Mr Shorten is happy to say while he is up in Central Queensland today that he is happy to abide also by the advice of the scientists (but) … I wait to see whether he says at the same thing down in Victoria or elsewhere in the country.”

Adani Australia chief executive Lucas Dow.

Asked if he would seek to review this decision if he won government, Mr Shorten in Gladstone said yesterday: “We’ve got to see what the Queensland Government does.

“And secondly, we will just adhere to the law. We’re not interested in sovereign risk.

“Plenty of people have got plenty of opinions on the project. We’ll just be guided by the law and by the science.”

Greens Senator Larissa Waters called on the Labor Party to “get off the fence”.

“Bill Shorten needs to come out and finally take a position and tell people before the election,” Senator Waters said.

LNP Leader Deb Frecklington said the only person now standing in the way of the mine was Ms Palaszczuk.

“This project just needs a fair go … because we need more jobs for Queensland,” she said.

“This project has been eight years in the making and now it is time to take the shackles off.”

The Adani Abbot Point coal terminal and the Caley Valley Wetlands in February. The Queensland government has fined Adani $13,055 for releasing polluted stormwater into central Queensland wetlands during the recent major rain event. Picture: AAP Image/Supplied by the Australian Conservation Foundation

Originally published as Adani blames State Government for job delays after federal approval