Palaszczuk unmoved by Ludwig comments on Adani
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to declare support for Adani’s controversial coalmine.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to declare support for Adani’s controversial coalmine after her one-time political patron, Bill Ludwig, criticised “lefties” in her government for politicising the stalled project.
Backed by the Australian Workers Union veteran, the CFMEU’s mining and energy branch yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to campaign against Labor candidates who refused to pledge support for coal jobs, including at Adani’s Carmichael project.
As the Premier refused to back the project, Deputy Premier and Left faction leader Jackie Trad dismissed Mr Ludwig’s criticisms — revealed in The Australian yesterday — and said the retired union boss’s generation would never need to deal with the consequences of global warming.
Shifting the debate away from the fate of the endangered black-throated finch, Ms Trad said: “The world is moving rapidly to embrace clean forms of energy and that will have an impact on coalmining … throughout the world.”
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the Labor Party was now “hopelessly divided” over the resource industry, accusing Ms Palaszczuk of having “sold out jobs” to placate the Left.
“Who is the boss of the party?’’ she asked. “If Annastacia Palaszczuk wants to be Premier of this state, she needs to stand up for jobs in Queensland. Queensland has always relied on the coal industry and I don’t think, given the state of the finances, we can have a premier who is so blatantly refusing to back projects.”
Ms Palaszczuk has refused to back future thermal coalmining in Queensland, saying the “market will dictate” whether the industry grows. In a one-line statement last night, she said of Adani: “We are following the same regulations that we have followed in facilitating more than $9 billion of mining investment in Queensland over the last four years, which has supported 5500 jobs.”
The AWU, which Mr Ludwig led nationally between 1993 and 2016, issued a blanket “no comment” yesterday and gagged its officials from speaking about the issue.
CFMEU mining and energy branch state president Steve Smyth said there would be “no on-the-ground support and no monetary support” for candidates who would not sign a pledge supporting the coal industry, including Adani.
Asked about Mr Ludwig’s complaint about anti-coal “lefties” in the government, Mr Smyth said: “I call them the green tinge in the party.” He said the union’s 8000 miners “may support other like-minded candidates”, such as those from Katter’s Australian Party.