ALP is not going to review Adani, says ‘supportive’ Shorten

The Opposition Leader said he was ‘not going to review Adani’ if he became prime minister.

Bill Shorten has hardened his support of the Adani coalmine as division in Labor ranks over the project threatens to derail his campaign in regional Queensland.

The Opposition Leader said yesterday he was “not going to review Adani” if he became prime minister, after refusing to rule out reopening the approvals while campaigning in central and north Queensland this week.

His supportive language on Adani came after a second Queensland Labor candidate was uncovered telling voters a Shorten government would review the federal environmental approvals ticked off by Environment Minister Melissa Price two days before the election.

“We are not going to review Adani, full stop. We have no plans,” Mr Shorten said in Townsville, which is in the seat of Herbert, held by Labor on a margin of 0.02 per cent.

“My backbenchers have got plenty of views — that’s life. But at the end of the day, the Labor cabinet will make the decisions and we have no plans to review Adani.”

Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole — who this month guaranteed “hand on heart” Labor would not revisit the federal approvals — said she did not believe a Shorten government would delay the project.

“Bill Shorten has made it very clear that he will not put this country at sovereign risk,” she said in Townsville yesterday. “That tells me we are not going to be tearing up contracts and causing problems.”

The Australian yesterday revealed Labor’s candidate for the Gold Coast seat of McPherson, Aaron Santelises, told voters Labor would review the groundwater approvals for the mine.

This came after Labor’s Dawson candidate, Belinda Hassan, on Tuesday contradicted Mr Shorten by claiming there might be a review of the approvals if Labor won the election.

Mr Shorten this week declared he would not sign the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union’s pledge calling for support of the coalmining industry and, in reference to the proposed Adani mine, for “coalmining developments that meet regulatory requirements”.

That puts him at odds with Labor’s candidate for Flynn, Zac Beers, who has signed the pledge, along with Ms Hassan and Capricornia candidate Russell Robertson.

Ms O’Toole has signed a business pledge to support the mine but not the CFMEU pledge.