Carmichael coal key to easing Indian poverty: Adani
Adani Australia’s chief executive has listed what he says are the global benefits of a controversial Queensland coalmine.
Adani Australia chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj has told opponents of the energy giant’s central Queensland Carmichael coalmine the project will help ease poverty in India and stop the country burning 30 per cent more coal to generate electricity.
Speaking at a Bowen Basin Mining Club function in Mackay yesterday, Mr Janakaraj told a crowd of 400 industry and community leaders that Adani was committed to the $16 billion project for the “long-term”.
“If we don’t supply clean coal from Australia to India, poverty will get elevated, with dirty coal coming from elsewhere,” Mr Janakaraj said.
“We have a double responsibility of elevating poverty in India, creating jobs in Queensland and giving India clean coal so that we can have lower impact in regards of the carbon footprint. If coal doesn’t go from Galilee Basin, India will at least burn 30 per cent more coal to generate the same amount of electricity.
“It’s extremely important to us as responsible people to ensure we present this fact to the people who are trying to stop this project.”
He was “confident this mine will make money” even with fluctuating resource prices. “Consistency is the key; we always said we would do the project,” he said. “We have very strong partners. We cannot deliver this project by ourselves. We are here to deliver together. We have a huge opportunity to deliver this as a project for Queensland and for northern Queensland. The most important aspect is that we can prove a point to the world, that Australia is an investment-seeking destination and projects can be delivered here on time, within budget.”
Minister for Northern Australia Matt Canavan told The Australian Adani had shown “patience” and commitment to delivering a project that would “make an enormous decision” to the economy.
The Rockhampton-based senator said hundreds of millions of Indians went without access to electricity, which had an impact on poverty. “This project will make an enormous difference to India. It’s also the case that, even if this project doesn’t go ahead, India will find a way to get coal,” Mr Canavan said.
“But the coal will come from different countries without our environmental record, coal that is of lower quality … that will burn more carbon-dioxide emissions. This project is not just pro-development, it’s not just anti-poverty, it’s also pro-environment as well.”
Queensland Resources Council acting chief executive Greg Lane said at a time when 23,000 resource jobs had been lost, opening up the Galilee Basin was critical. “Carmichael will provide hundreds of millions in state royalties to help pay for hospitals, schools and roads as well as providing thousands of jobs to Queenslanders in desperate need of work,” he said.
Mr Lane described the mine as a “vital job-generating project”, which had strong support in regions hit hard by job losses.
Australian Greens Deputy Leader Larissa Waters called on the state and federal governments to revoke their approvals of the mine, and criticised claims about energy poverty.
“Big coal companies only care about their profits, and if the Liberal government cared about global poverty it wouldn’t be slashing the foreign aid budget,” Senator Waters said. The “solution” was “localised renewable energy”.