Adani is hurting us in rural Queensland, Labor concedes

Labor figures warn the handling of Adani is damaging hopes of winning marginal LNP seats.

Former Queensland Labor MP Jim Pearce says the Adani mine was ‘a big issue’. Picture: Annette Dew

Labor Party figures have warned that the party’s handling of the Adani coalmine project is damaging Bill Shorten’s hopes of winning marginal Coalition-held seats in regional Queensland.

The Opposition Leader needs to make gains in Queensland, where the Coalition holds 21 of the 30 federal seats, and retain Labor’s only regional seat, the Townsville electorate of Herbert. A senior Labor insider said the campaign was “going backwards’’ in regional Queensland, with anger over state Labor’s handling of the proposed coalmine and fears that a Shorten government would overturn the recent approval by the Morrison government of the project’s water management plan.

Former state Labor MP Jim Pearce, who lost his central Queensland seat of Mirani at the 2017 state election, said the Adani mine was “a big issue’’.

“It is very obvious there is anger about the way it has dragged on,’’ Mr Pearce said.

It is understood Labor polling is indicating the likely failure to pick up the ultra-marginal seats of Capricornia, Flynn and Dawson and a growing threat of losing Herbert — held on a margin of 37 votes.

But the polling also shows that the looming poor performance in regional Queensland could be countered by bigger than expected gains in Brisbane and its fringes.

Labor last month put the Liberal-held seat of Brisbane on its target list. Polling has boosted hopes for three other Coalition marginal seats in southeast Queensland — Petrie, Bonner and Forde and, possibly, Dickson, held by Peter Dutton.

Focus group research by the Liberal National Party earlier this year put climate change as the top issue among voters in the seat of Brisbane, held by Liberal Trevor Evans on a margin of 6 per cent.

 

Insiders are speculating about a possible Labor pivot away from ­regional Queensland to the city-based seats in the state, as well as in Victoria, on the back of voter concerns about climate-change action.

It comes as former Greens senator Bob Brown will today launch his “Stop Adani protest” convoy’s 19-day journey from Hobart to Canberra, via central Queensland, ensuring the project will remain a central issue ahead of the election.

Mr Pearce, a member of the CFMEU which demanded federal Labor candidates sign a pledge to support the coal industry or face campaign opposition from the union, said state Labor’s 2017 withdrawal of support for a federal loan to Adani had “certainly contributed’’ to his loss. And he said Palas­zczuk government delays to the project would hurt the pros­pects of federal Labor candidates.

“It (the anger) is not just among miners but also small business people who need certainty to plan ahead with projects like these,’’ he said. “The Greens are driving all of this but while everyone talks about Adani, there are seven or eight other mines on the drawing board that nobody is talking about.’’

A Labor insider told The Australian: “The Adani issue is hurting us in regional Queensland seats; the campaign workers on the ground are saying it is the big issue.’’

Mining drives the economy of central Queensland’s coal-belt seats with 8466 people in Capricornia — or 12 per cent of workers — working for the industry at the last census in 2016.

Fewer than 600 votes would need to switch to Labor for incumbent Michelle Landry to lose the Rockhampton-based seat. There were 6416 people — or 9 per cent of workers — employed by mining companies in Flynn, where Nat­ionals MP Ken O’Dowd can barely afford to lose 900 votes to Labor before his seat is in jeopardy.

Former Queensland Labor minister John Mickel yesterday said Adani was causing “trouble” for both Labor and Liberal campaigns in regional Queensland.

“I’m sure that Labor, north of Caboolture, is having trouble with that issue, just as the Liberal Party will be having trouble with that issue north of Caboolture as well,” Professor Mickel said.

“That’s why the Queensland section of the National Party is so bullish on it and you can see it gets bullish around what are the coal seats like Capricornia and to some extent Dawson.”

Although the Carmichael project has cleared all federal hurdles, it still needs the state government to approve two management plans relating to the endangered black-throated finch and the mine’s use of groundwater.

The finch plan has stalled after a government-commissioned review recommended tough new rules. Adani said it gave the state Environment Department a “comprehensive list of deficiencies and errors” a month ago, but is “still yet to receive any clarity on timing or process”.