What voters think about the issue that won’t go away this election campaign

Voters in pub bluntly say they will “lean towards” the political party which stands up for mining in the Galilee Basin the most.

Mates Cheyne Timmermans, Chris Cockcroft and Frank Scharf have a beer at the Shamrock Hotel and talk all things Adani. Picture: Zak Simmonds

TUG boat skipper Frank Scharf just returned from a month-long trip to Papua New Guinea, somehow managing to avoid the noise of the build-up to the ­federal election.

“It would be no different to all the other election coverages for the past 30 years,” he said, at the Shamrock Hotel, in Townsville’s Palmer St.

Mr Scharf is a swinging voter.

“I’ve been anti-Labor, I’ve been anti-Liberal,” he said.

“To be honest, if some of the smaller parties were a lot stronger you’d vote for them.”

One issue that has refused to go away this election campaign is Adani’s Carmichael mine.

A controversial move by Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price to tick off on Adani’s groundwater management plan on the eve of the election threw the Carmichael mine back into the political fray.

While in Townsville last week, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten ­declared Adani’s approvals wouldn’t be reviewed and defended his ­previous scepticism of the mining project in the Galilee Basin.

Mr Scharf backs Adani and says it can only benefit the region with the jobs it would bring.

When casting his vote he’d “lean towards” whatever party stands for Adani but he said both parties would eventually cave.

MP hopeful: ‘It’s scum behaviour’

Labor MPs fail to pledge support for Galilee Basin

“If the Liberals come out and say ‘we’re going to support Adani’ before the end of the week Labor will say ‘we’re going to support Adani too’,” he said.

“It’s one of those catfight things … they all want the people to vote for them and they’ll promise the Earth and then they’ll get into politics and between now and Christmas they’ll give themselves a pay rise and … then the infighting will start again.”

Sitting across from Mr Scharf is Chris Cockcroft, a long-time ­colleague.

“Adani has jumped through all the hoops; they’re trying to do all the correct things,” Mr Cockcroft said.

The 66-year-old is from the Gold Coast and flies to Townsville to work on the tugs as an engineer.

He normally votes for the LNP but is undecided this time around. The problem, he said, was no party stuck to their promises.

Asked whether the Adani mine would sway his vote, Mr Cockcroft said: “I reckon it would.

“I just think it should be settled,” he said. “It’s too political.”

Airlie Beach resident Cheyne Timmermans, who also works on the tug boats, said he would love the mine to go ahead but would be ­indifferent if it didn’t.

Originally published as What voters think about the issue that won’t go away this election campaign