Why it’s time to stop the Labor delays on Adani

In an ideal world today’s campaign would focus solely on Premier Palaszczuk’s government and the lacklustre local Labor MPs who have done nothing we can see to stop the greenie politics encroaching on decision making.

THEY say timing is everything in life.

When businesses and community leaders in Townsville, Rockhampton and Mackay started talking about a ­co-ordinated campaign to show their support for the opening of the Galilee Basin they expected it to be aimed squarely at the State Government.

That’s because it’s the State Government that keeps shifting the goalposts on Adani’s Carmichael mine proposal.

MINE GAMES:

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It was the Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who initially backflipped on Adani when she unexpectedly withdrew Labor’s support, against advice from the Integrity Commissioner, for a NAIF loan right before the 2017 election.

It was also the Queensland Government that ordered an 11th-hour review into Adani’s plans for the black-throated finch, commissioning the leader of a fundamentally anti-mining organisation to carry out the review.

And it’s the State Government that agreed to accept the findings of the scientists selected by the Commonwealth to assess Adani’s groundwater management report before just last week, once again suggesting those approvals were no longer good enough.

No one is saying due process should not be followed but the State Government has gone out of its way to use Adani as a political football.

In an ideal world today’s campaign would focus solely on Premier Palaszczuk’s government and the lacklustre local Labor MPs who have done nothing we can see to stop the greenie politics encroaching on decision making.

This approval process has crept into a federal election cycle and despite neither Bill Shorten nor Scott Morrison wanting it hijacking the campaign, ultimately it will.

In another example of interesting timing, State Labor has decided that today is the day to announce a $1 billion metallurgical coal mining project in the Bowen Basin will be declared a co-ordinated project to help facilitate complex approvals.

It’s positive to see a new mine get one step closer but it’s irrelevant to today’s front page and don’t let anyone in the State Government try to convince you otherwise. Opening the Galilee Basin, a new untapped coal reserve, will provide jobs for generations as global demand for coal will continue to remain strong.

While everyone understands the need to grow our focus and dependency on renewables, we are a long way away from coal mining’s end of time. This is about who wants to expedite that industry’s demise, for whose benefit and to what end.

Originally published as Why it’s time to stop the Labor delays on Adani