Time to move on from Adani, says Qld treasurer Jackie Trad

The number of jobs created by Adani don’t justify the “fixation with this mine”, says Qld treasurer.

Deputy Premier and Treasurer for Queensland Jackie Trad said Adani has been “weaponised” by both advocates and opponents of the mine. Picture: David Clark/AAP

Queensland Treasurer Jackie Trad says Adani’s controversial coal mine will create only a tiny proportion of the jobs facilitated by the state government and it was now “time to move on” from the debate.

Speaking in Brisbane ahead of delivering her second state budget on Tuesday, Ms Trad said she disagreed with former United States vice president Al Gore’s previous suggestion that Australia had a choice between the Great Barrier Reef and Adani.

“I don’t think that’s the choice before us … I fundamentally disagree with (him),” Ms Trad said.

But when asked how she would feel if Adani’s Carmichael coal mine was given the green light by the state’s environment department next Thursday, the Deputy Premier downplayed the significance of the project.

“I’m not going to deal in hypotheticals, because the CSIRO might come back with more questions, I’m just not going to get into that silly debate. The CSIRO might come back with more questions, there might be more concerns, there might not be, let’s just wait until it happens,” she said.

“The fixation with this one mine, that accounts for … I had some math done, the jobs promised in this one mine, if looked at from a perspective of all the jobs the Palaszczuk has facilitated and created since it came to office, is 0.005 per cent. That’s where the conversation is at in terms of regional jobs and in terms of environmental policy. I actually think it’s time to move on.”

Ms Trad is the leader of the dominant Left faction, and is a vocal Adani sceptic. Since federal Labor was thumped in Queensland at the recent federal election — with the loss partly blamed on the state’s inaction over Adani’s environmental approvals – Ms Trad has come out and said Adani has been “weaponised” by both advocates and opponents of the mine.

A “fed up” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk came out last month and ordered her environment department to set and meet deadlines for remaining environmental approvals for the $2bn Carmichael coal project, slated for central Queensland’s Galilee basin and forecast to produce 10 million tonnes of thermal coal annually.

Environmental officials approved Adani’s black-throated finch management plan last week, and next week will make a decision on its groundwater strategy. The company says it will start early construction works as soon as it has the groundwater green light.