Queensland election 2017: Labor candidate ‘undermines’ Adani

A LABOR candidate has been caught red-handed saying the Adani megamine will not go ahead.

Adani coal mine protesters gatecrash Annastacia Palaszczuk this week. Picture: AAP Image/Josh Woning

A LABOR candidate has been caught red-handed unwittingly telling a journalist the Adani coalmine would not go ahead.

Ali King, a former staffer to Environment Minister Steven Miles, is running in the new seat of Maiwar in Brisbane’s west, with her former boss switching his candidacy from the now-defunct seat of Mt Coot-tha to Murrumba north of Brisbane.

And she told an ABC journalist unequivocally the Adani project “didn’t stack up” and that it “will never happen.”

When confronted, Ms King denied she made the claim, saying the Government had a firm position on Adani.

“I’ve never said that, what I’ve said is this Government has its position very firm and whether Adani will go ahead or not is a question for its own merits,” she told the ABC.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday would not say whether she believed Adani’s Carmichael coalmine was financially viable.

She was quizzed on the mine again as the project continued to haunt her re-election campaign.

Ms Palaszczuk said whether or not the mine stacked up financially was a matter for Adani.

Labor candidate for Maiwar Ali King

“That’s a matter for them. I don’t have access to their books. They have to get finance if this project is to go ahead,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“Every project, whether it’s an LNG project, whether it’s a gas project, if it doesn’t financially stack up it doesn’t go ahead.”

The controversial project has already been a major issue for the Government with protesters continuing to follow Ms Palaszczuk over her support.

It is also a major thorn in the side of Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, who is at risk of losing her seat of South Brisbane to the Greens due to the approval.

Cabinet was divided earlier this year when left aligned Ministers formed to try and kill off the project before it was approved.

South Brisbane Greens candidate Amy MacMahon lashed Ms Trad saying the Deputy Premier was now trying to soften her stance when speaking to voters in a last-ditch attempt to win back lost votes.

“We know that people in South Brisbane and throughout Queensland are really unhappy with the Adani project, we’ve seen today the Deputy Premier trying to distance herself from the Government on this issue,” she said.

Originally published as Queensland election 2017: Labor candidate ‘undermines’ Adani